And So It Goes
by SLynn
Summary: Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.  Established Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: **SLynn**  
****Rating: **T  
**Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None

**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Notes: **I fully admit to having never thought of or planned to write this fic. It came into my head and wouldn't leave until I starting putting it on paper. While I tried to stay as true to the characters as possible, the situations are a bit more realistic and things that weren't known in canon, I made up. If I got it wrong, I'm sorry. Thanks to my beta, Tripp3235! You are awesome. Enjoy!

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 1**

"But Mom said you have to."

"Ugh," Kendall groaned. "But why? She always lets you stay at the Palms by yourself. She knows you're not going to run away or talk to strangers or whatever..."

Katie looked up at her big brother and rolled her eyes.

"Besides," Kendall added. "I can't. I promised Jo we'd go to the park this morning. I stayed home plenty of times by myself at your age."

"In Minnesota," Katie interrupted. "Ever since Mom saw that report on -"

"You'll be fine," Kendall interrupted in his turn.

"I know that," Katie shot back at him, "but Mom said someone has to stay with me now that she's working weekends and you..."

"Not it," Kendall piped up immediately.

James and Carlos, who until this moment, had only been watching the exchange with mild curiosity, reacted on instinct.

"Not it," they chimed in chorus.

"Not - what?" Logan began, having been distracted momentarily fixing his shoelaces.

Logan looked up just in time to see Kendall, James and Carlos, the later of the three the only one to slow down long enough to shrug, racing out the door, leaving him alone with Katie.

"Guys?" Logan feebly called after them.

"Looks like it's me and you," Katie said.

"Um...what just happened?"

"While you were busy making sure your laces are all exactly the same length, my brother, and your other best friends, ditched you, and now you have to watch me all day."

"I was not making sure my laces were all the same length. I was just making them even."

Katie looked pointedly down to his feet and then up again with a 'who are you kidding' look in her eyes.

Fighting down the blush that was creeping up his neck, Logan walked around Katie and toward the kitchen in hopes of finding a distraction.

"So?" Katie asked, following right behind him as he yanked open the refrigerator door.

"So," Logan repeated, closing the door again without having retrieved anything. "What? What am I supposed to do? I'm a terrible babysitter."

"I'm not a baby."

"I... I know," Logan stammered, acutely aware he'd just offended her. "It's just..."

"Listen," she interrupted. "All you have to do is hang out, okay? I don't need a nap. I don't need you to cut the crusts off my sandwiches. You don't have to tie my laces. Heck, if anything, my mom should be making me watch you four. I'm only going along with this because she's the one who hands out the allowances. Okay?"

"Okay," Logan repeated.

Katie nodded shortly, then turned on her heels to head off to her room.

"No," she heard Logan call out from behind her. "Not okay. I can't... I really can't. Camille is expecting me to show up on set for lunch today."

Katie, with her back still to Logan, rolled her eyes, but otherwise made no indication she'd heard him.

"Katie, Katie, Katie," Logan said in a rush, running to cut her off, and as she'd expected, wearing what she called his 'worry face', complete with a crease just above his nose. "I can't today. Someone else has to do it. If I miss this date..."

"Look around," Katie said, dramatically moving her arms in a wide circle. "There's no one else."

"Can't you just stay by yourself for a little while?" Please? This is really important."

"I can, but my mom won't like it."

At the thought of upsetting Mrs. Knight, who had after all been so good to Logan and the others, he quickly shook off that idea.

"All right then," Logan sighed in defeat, there was really only one option left. "You'll just have to come along."

"I don't think so."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Katie, come on..." Logan pleaded. "You have to work with me here."

"No, I don't."

Logan sighed, casting about him for some way of making this work, before ruffling a hand through the back of his hair.

"Katie?" he begged. Didn't she understand what this date meant to him?

Katie crossed her arms and stared up at him indignantly.

"I'm sorry I called you a baby," Logan tried.

"And?"

"And?" he returned, beginning to panic, remembering why he was often so glad to be an only child. "And what? What?"

"You have to buy me lunch."

"Fine."

"And," she continued.

"There's more?"

"I'll go," Katie said, drawing out the words as long as possible, "but only if afterwards you take me to the mall."

"Fine," Logan agreed.

"And buy me ice cream."

"Fine."

"And -"

"Katie, is your mom going to pay me for any of this?"

"No," Katie answered, as if that should be obvious.

"Then that's it," Logan said firmly. "I'm down to my last fifty bucks, and between lunch and ice cream and whatever else you've got planned..."

"I don't have a plan!"

"...I'm going to be flat broke before sunset," Logan continued on as if she'd said nothing. "And my parents, who aren't exactly thrilled with me being here in the first place, told me that if I asked them for anything else before the first of the month, I could just pack my bags and come home. Understood?"

"Yes," Katie said with an exasperated sigh. "Fine, forget the ice cream."

"We can still get ice cream," Logan said. "Just, no sprinkles."

"Sprinkles are for babies anyway," Katie said with a smile.

And Logan found himself smiling in return.

* * *

Kendall, James and Logan couldn't help but laugh at Logan's misfortune, but being the good friends that they are, they didn't laugh for too long.

"Was that mean?" Carlos was the first to ask, as their running gave way to walking just as they reached Bitters' desk.

"Nah," Kendall said, trying to shake off the nagging feeling that it might have been. "Besides, I'll only be gone a few hours. I'll take over when I get back. And Katie's not so bad. She'll probably just stay in her room or maybe drag him to the pool."

"Well, I couldn't have done it anyway," James said, looking a bit down. "Gustavo wants me at the studio today to redo some of my solo tracks."

"What about you, Carlos?" Kendall asked. "Got plans?"

"Not really," he admitted.

"I'd invite you along..." Kendall started to say.

"No thanks," Carlos said quickly. "I don't want to end up as the third wheel."

"Come with me to the studio," James suggested. "If I get done early we can go hang out."

"Cool," Carlos said with a short nod.

"There's Jo," Kendall said, standing up a bit straighter as he spotted her standing across the lobby. "I'll see you guys later."

"Have fun," James called after him before turning to his other friend, still at his side. "You ready?"

"Let's go," Carlos answered, eager to go anywhere, no matter the destination.

A short while later, James and Carlos found themselves at Rocque Records, greeted by an already agitated Gustavo. After a moment or two of letting into James, for no obvious reason other than it was Saturday and he'd had other plans himself, he turned to Carlos.

"And why are you here?"

"Why are any of us here?"

Gustavo looked momentarily lost for words, but shrugging this off, he bellowed for James to get in the booth.

"Where do you want me?" Carlos asked, good naturedly for the most part, but knew it would irritate the boss.

"Out of my face!"

James grinned at him from behind Gustavo's back and Carlos took a giant step backwards.

"Is that far enough?"

"Kelly!" Gustavo yelled.

"Yes?" she answered, popping into the room quickly.

"Get him out of here, will you?" he said, waving frantically in Carlos' direction. "One dog is all I can handle today."

Kelly smiled in her tight-lipped way that meant business, and grabbed the offending "dog" by the elbow, yanking him sideways and out of the room.

"Come on," she said, letting go only when they were halfway down the hall. "I'm sure we can find something to do."

She stopped abruptly in front of a door Carlos had never noticed before, opened it, and ushered him inside.

"What's this?"

"My office," she answered, as if it should be obvious, taking a seat in front of a computer.

"I didn't know you had an office," Carlos said, taking a quick look around.

A quick look was all it afforded. The room was just big enough for the desk and two chairs that had been crammed inside of it. The walls were mostly bare, except for a large corkboard that took up one entire wall and was filled with various schedules and clippings. Her desk was neat, with only a few personal affects and there were no windows.

"Of course I have an office," Kelly said, tossing him a magazine she'd retrieved from a drawer.

Carlos caught it, but didn't begin reading. He was still looking around the room in surprise.

"Didn't this used to be a broom closet?"

Kelly looked offended, but didn't deny it, and for several long minutes, neither of them spoke.

"So," Carlos said, after turning through the magazine without finding anything of interest, "why are you here? Aren't you off on the weekend?"

"If Gustavo's at work, so am I," Kelly said, without taking her eyes off of her computer screen.

"Do you at least get overtime?"

"Nope."

Carlos frowning is what finally drew her attention completely.

"It's part of the job," she explained.

"That you don't get paid for."

"Doesn't bother me."

"Really?"

"I love my job, Carlos."

For a minute she'd thought he'd let it drop. Kelly really didn't mind the sometimes crazy hours she worked, or the sometimes crazy people she worked with. It was worth it in her opinion, but she knew Carlos and the rest of the boys might not get that this was how life was sometimes. The last thing she needed was them making a fuss with Gustavo, or worse, with Griffin, over her.

"I get it," Carlos finally said. "It's like hockey."

"I'm sorry?"

"Your job," he explained. "It's like hockey."

Kelly raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"See," Carlos explained, "if you want to play in the game, you've got to do all this other stuff to make it happen. Sometimes it's real obvious, like practicing, but sometimes it's not, like going to bed early and eating right."

She said nothing.

"Kendall could probably have said it better. A lot better."

"No," Kelly said quickly, shaking her head. "No, you're right. It is like that. A lot like that, actually. I get it."

And this time, when she smiled, it was a real one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 2 **

Logan knew they'd be arriving way too early for lunch, but that didn't stop him from insisting that he and Katie leave almost immediately. He'd already mapped out the route they'd need to take via the bus, but while you could count on a schedule, you couldn't count on traffic. And traffic in Los Angles was unreal and infuriating, especially for Logan; tardiness gave him hives.

When they finally did arrive on the set of the show Camille had gotten a bit part on, they still had at least an hour to go before lunchtime.

Katie sighed, whipped out her DS, and propped herself up against the nearest light post.

"Won't be long," Logan lied, spotting Camille in the distance and giving her a little wave.

Camille broke character long enough to return the gesture, and then got straight back to work.

Nearly two hours later, and after much moving about and some whining, Katie was done.

"I'm going back to the Palms," she said, standing up and dusting herself off.

"What?" Logan shouted, loud enough to earn a reproach from some nearby assistant to the show. "Katie, you can't..."

"I'm hungry. I'm hot. I'm bored," she rattled off.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I really thought she'd be done by now."

"Well, she's not."

"Okay, how about this," Logan said, looking around him as if Camille was just going to magically show up, ready to go.

Katie stared at him.

"Look," he said, pointing across the street. "There's a diner there. I'll text Camille and we'll go over, get some food, and wait for her. How about that?"

"You're in charge," Katie answered as sarcastically as she could.

Logan tapped out as quick of a message as he could without resorting to net speak. He abided by all the rules, all the time, especially those he'd learned in his AP English classes.

Twenty minutes after they'd been seated and were midway through their plates of burgers and fries, Camille joined them, sliding smoothly into the seat next to Logan.

"I'm so sorry," she said, dropping a quick kiss on Logan's cheek. "I tried to get away earlier, but the director kept doing the same scene over and over, and I was stuck in the background."

Logan said something about it 'not being a problem' as he pushed his plate towards her, silently offering up what was left of his fries. Camille smiled and then, as if she'd just noticed, she turned towards Katie.

"Hi, Katie."

Katie smiled, her lips pushed thin.

"So, um..." Camille began, turning her questioning eyes on Logan.

"Oh," Logan said, sitting up straighter as he shifted to face her. "I'm just... Katie and I are hanging out today," he amended. "Mrs. Knight didn't want her by herself and so..."

"Logan asked me to come along," Katie interjected.

"That was nice of you," Camille said, understanding what hadn't been said.

"Do you want me to call the waitress over?" Logan asked.

"No, that's all right," Camille said. "I'm not that hungry. They had a huge breakfast buffet."

"Wow," Katie muttered under her breath. "Wish someone had sent us that message."

Camille blushed uncomfortably and Logan looked across the table at her in exasperation.

"What?"

"Katie, it's not Camille's fault."

"I didn't say it was," Katie returned, and this time Logan blushed.

"You know," Camille said quickly. "I really should get back. Um, maybe we can get together tonight? Go to a movie or something?"

"He can't," Katie said before Logan had the chance. "He's broke."

Logan had turned his head once more in her direction, ready to speak up, but Camille gently turned his head her way instead.

"That's okay," she smiled, kissing him quick on the lips. "He paid last time. It's my turn to buy."

Logan smiled back at her, the harsh words he'd been about to throw Katie's way, gone from his head.

"Bye, Katie," Camille called as she moved away from the table. "See you later, Logan."

Katie watched as Logan's eyes tracked Camille out of the diner and across the street.

"James was right."

"Excuse me?" Logan said, turning to face the girl on the other side of the table.

"I said, 'James was right,'" Katie repeated.

"About what?"

"I really shouldn't say."

"Well, if it's about me..."

"You really want to know?" Katie asked, eyebrow raised as if she doubted he could handle the truth.

"Yes."

"Okay," Katie sighed, behaving as if he'd forced the answer out of her. "James said that since Camille is the first girl you've kissed, she'd own you for life. And that you wouldn't even be with her if she hadn't told you that she liked you first."

"Who'd he say that to?"

"Kendall."

Logan continued to stare at her.

"And Carlos."

"Where was I?"

"With Camille."

Logan frowned and looked down into his plate, before ultimately pushing it away from him entirely.

After he paid for their lunches, Logan led Katie back to the bus stop in mostly silence. He perked up a bit after they stopped at the mall, as he'd promised, and bought them ice creams. And, Katie was happy to find, by the time they arrived back at the Palms in the early evening, Logan seemed to be back to his old self. She was sorry that he'd felt bad about what she'd told him, but she wasn't sorry for having done it.

"Sixth grade is going to be a complete waste of time," she was busy telling him, as they walked into the lobby. "But what can I do? Mom won't let me skip a grade."

"My parents wouldn't let me skip any grades either," he told her, pushing the up button on the elevator. "They were right, of course. I'm glad now."

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "You could have been in college by now."

"I don't know about that."

"Of course you would have. You're the smartest guy I know."

"No offense," Logan said with a laugh, "but you don't know a lot of guys."

Katie shrugged, stepping out of the way as he unlocked the front door to their apartment.

"Hey," Kendall called, looking over the back of the couch at the two of them as he switched off the television. "Got your note. Sorry, man. If I'd known..."

"You still would have ran off after Jo," Katie finished for him.

Kendall shrugged, not denying it.

"I would have felt worse about it, though," he threw in as an afterthought.

"It's fine," Logan said. "We had fun, right?"

"Yeah," Katie agreed.

"But you and Camille..." Kendall said, sitting up straighter.

"Don't worry about it," Logan interrupted. "Camille and I are going out tonight. Lunch was kind of a bust anyway."

"When's Mom coming home?" Kendall asked, turning to his sister.

"I think she's working a double."

"I'll start dinner then," Kendall said, getting up. "What do you guys want?"

"What about James and Carlos?" Katie asked.

"They're ordering in at the studio," Kendall answered. "I don't know what James did, or didn't do, but they're going to be there for awhile."

"I'm really not that hungry," Logan admitted, sitting on the couch. "And I don't know when Camille will want to go out, but she'll probably want to grab something then."

"Katie?"

"Nah," she said. "If I get hungry I'll make a grilled cheese."

Kendall shrugged and returned to the living room.

"Are you and Jo going out tonight?" Logan asked.

"No," Kendall answered. "She said her dad wants her to stay home and spend some time with the family."

"He doesn't like you, does he?" Katie asked.

"No, I don't think he does."

Katie and Kendall both turned at the sound of Logan's cell ringing. He hopped up quickly and walked out of the room to answer it.

"So," Kendall began, "what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"Do?" Katie asked.

"While Mom's at work," Kendall continued. "I can't expect Logan to watch you all day again, and who knows if James and Carlos will even be back, so it'll probably be just you and me. Like the old days."

The frown was quick, but not so quick that Kendall hadn't seen it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Okay," Kendall said, his smile disbelieving, but before he could say anything further, Logan came jogging out of the room the guys all shared.

"Hey," he said, smiling as he clapped Kendall once on the shoulder. "I've got to go. Camille got us tickets to some concert and it starts in half an hour."

"Cool," Kendall said, watching his friend race towards the door. "Hey, just remember that my mom said curfew is midnight."

Logan stopped long enough to throw him a incredulous look.

"Sorry," Kendall said as Logan pulled open the door. "Forgot who I was talking to. Have fun."

"Thanks!" Logan yelled. "See you later, guys."

Kendall moved back to the couch, took hold of the remote, and flipped the television back on.

"Want to watch a movie?" he asked his sister, but she hadn't heard.

Katie was still watching the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Thanks for the reviews, guys! I'm trying to post a chapter a day, and right now it looks like this will end up being in the 15-20 chapter range. Enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

Kelly looked at her watch for the fifth time in under ten minutes. It had been an extremely long day, but she had to admit, it would have seemed longer if Carlos hadn't been there. Despite the boredom that had slunk into her office over the past hour, the larger part of the day she'd either kept busy or had been kept busy laughing.

"You've got to see this," Carlos chuckled from his recently acquired spot behind her desk.

"I don't want to see another video of some guy falling off his skateboard," Kelly said, draping an arm across her eyes as she leaned back just far enough to prop up her feet.

"It's not," Carlos swore. "This one's on a trampoline."

Kelly almost smiled, but had a better idea instead.

"Let's get out of here," she said, dropping so quickly in her chair that it caused Carlos to jump in his.

"Quitting time?" he asked, getting to his feet and rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"No," Kelly sighed. "From the sounds of it, they'll keep us here at least another hour. We'll make a coffee run. A long coffee run."

Carlos smiled and followed her out of the office, past the recording bays where she stopped long enough to shout out where they were heading.

"Should we ask if they want something?"

"I know Gustavo's order backwards and forwards," Kelly assured him. "And, as for James, well, after what happened the last time we let any of you have drinks in the booth..."

She trailed off, no need to elaborate further.

It was just past ten as they walked briskly into the refreshing night air to the nearest Starbucks. The first one they reached had just closed, but that didn't deter Kelly.

"The one on the next corner stays open till midnight," she told him.

Kelly picked up her pace. The air, that had started off refreshing, had grown steadily cooler, until it got to the point where she'd begun to wrap her arms around herself in an effort to keep warm.

She was just thinking, with regret, of the sweater she purposefully left in her office for trips just like this, when she felt Carlos drop his sweatshirt across her shoulders.

"Thanks, Carlos, but won't you be cold now?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "I'm from Minnesota. This is nothing."

She laughed, slipping her arms into the sleeves and zipping it up high.

They walked in silence until reaching their destination.

"Hey, Kelly," the barista behind the counter called out as soon as they were inside. "Good to see you."

"Hi, Jeff," Kelly returned, smiling at him.

"You want your usual?"

"Please," she said. "And one for the boss, too, but not just yet. We're going to drink ours here and take his to go, okay?"

"No problem at all," Jeff answered, before turning to Carlos and reaching over to shake his hand. "You must be one of Kelly's guys, am I right?"

"Guys?" Carlos said skeptically, shaking the offered hand.

"Jeff, this is Carlos," Kelly said, patting him on the back. "You'd better ask for his autograph now before he gets too famous and starts charging for them."'

"I doubt that," Carlos replied.

"You're joking," Jeff said. "The way Kelly goes on about you and that group your in... this lady here, she doesn't make things up."

"Yeah, but.."

"If she says you've got talent, you've got it."

Jeff laughed and then asked Carlos what he'd have to drink. Carlos placed his order, shifting uncomfortably as they waited, and then hurried off with Kelly to the table at the window.

"You really said all that stuff about us?" Carlos asked her once he'd taken his first sip of coffee.

"Of course I did."

Carlos watched for a moment as Kelly checked her phone for any missed messages.

"Because it's your job, right?"

"It is," Kelly shrugged, "but that doesn't mean it isn't true."

"Maybe it is for Kendall or James, but I'm just along for the ride."

"What?" Kelly asked, shocked even.

"Don't get me wrong," Carlos said quickly, afraid she had done just that, "I love it. I do. I didn't think I would, but it's a lot of fun when Gustavo isn't yelling. Sometimes it's more fun when he is yelling. The singing, the dancing. All of it. And I take it serious. I just meant that I know I'm not the one with any real talent."

"You can't possibly believe that?" Kelly asked, still sounding shocked. "Carlos, really?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Carlos," Kelly sighed, looking into her cup as if it might offer her advice on the subject. "That's... that's not true. You're just as good as Kendall and James. Just as important as they are to this group."

"But Gustavo said -"

"Gustavo says a lot of things," she interrupted. "You've got to stop listening to what he says and see what he does."

"So, something like this?" Carlos asked, throwing his hands in the air, mouth open wide in a perfect impression of Gustavo, in a rage, sans sound.

"No," Kelly laughed. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant, he may have gone looking for someone like James, and picked someone like Kendall, but he took all of you. All of you. You and Logan, too."

"Because Kendall wouldn't do it without us."

"No," Kelly argued.

Carlos looked at her with clear skepticism.

"Okay, yes," she admitted, "but, he kept you. He kept all of you, and he'd have never done that if you weren't good."

Carlos still did not look persuaded.

"Individually, you're all good. Very good, even," Kelly continued. "But together, you guys are amazing."

"That's still the job talking, isn't it?"

"It's really not. You've got talent. Accept it."

Carlos considered it for a moment, taking a slow sip so as not to have to speak right away, giving the blush that had crept across his cheeks the chance to burn out.

Finally, still looking down at the table, he said, "Thanks, Kelly."

"Any time," she said, briefly placing her hand on his forearm and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Now, lets get back to the studio. If we're lucky, Gustavo is done yelling at James and we can all go home and enjoy a day off tomorrow."

They were in luck, arriving back just in time to see Gustavo and James ready to pack up for the night.

"Kelly, give these dogs a ride home, will you?" Gustavo asked her as soon as he'd drank half his coffee. "I don't trust them on the buses this late. They might get lost."

"Sure thing," Kelly said. "Let me get my purse."

A few minutes after that Kelly led Carlos and James into the parking lot and towards her car, the only one left at this time of night.

"This is your car?" James said, sounding disappointed.

Carlos slapped him across the chest and muttered 'shut up' under his breath.

"I'm just saying, Gustavo drives a Porsche."

"Yes, well, Gustavo also has a mansion," Kelly returned, "and I have a one-bedroom condo that's about three square feet bigger than my office."

"Shotgun," Carlos said quickly, while James was still distracted by the ordinariness of Kelly's sedan.

"What? No," James exclaimed. "I'm older."

"And slower," Carlos shot back at him. "I called it first."

James grumbled as he got in, but Carlos found it was worth it when Kelly cast him another smile over the hood of the car. One he read easily and returned.

"Ugh," James said, rubbing the palms of his hands over his eyes. "I never want to hear that song again."

"What took so long?" Kelly asked.

"Gustavo didn't like the way I was singing one of the lines. Something about emphasis. I guess we got there in the end, but who knows. He may listen to it tonight and call me in again tomorrow. And if he does, I'm not going."

"I'm sure it's fine," Kelly tried.

"Is it really eleven thirty?" James asked, ignoring her last statement. He was simultaneously exhausted and bursting with energy, the natural result of a long day spent standing still.

"Yep," Kelly answered. "But don't worry. I'll get you home before curfew. Or should I call? I should call."

"Don't," Carlos advised. "You'll just wake up Mrs. Knight, and she works again tomorrow. Kendall will have let her know where we were."

Kelly nodded in agreement, putting her phone back down almost as quickly as she'd picked it up.

Not ten minutes later, they pulled up at the Palm Woods, just in time.

"Thanks for the ride, Kelly," James called, not bothering to wait; bolting out the door to enjoy the last few minutes of the night and heading straight for the patio by the pool.

Kelly didn't answer, just shook her head at his departure.

"Yeah," Carlos echoed, still lingering behind. "Thanks."

"Any time, Carlos," she said.

"Well, um... goodnight," he said, shutting the door before turning.

"Oh, wait," Kelly called. "Carlos!"

"Yeah?" he asked, hurrying back a few steps and bending low to look in the window.

"Your sweatshirt," she said, undoing her seatbelt to unzip it in a hurry. "I forgot."

"No," he said, shaking his head at her, "don't worry about it. You can keep it."

"I can't do that," she said, shaking her head in return.

"No, really," he insisted, backing away as if he wouldn't allow it. "It's no big deal. Just... keep it."

"Okay," she said, relenting more because the zipper had become snagged. "If you're sure. Thanks again."

Carlos waved as he backed up another few steps, finally turning to go when he saw her refasten her seatbelt, not knowing that she waited until he was inside before really leaving, as she always did when she dropped any of the guys off. It was another part of her job, seeing to their safety, but one she didn't really mind.

Kelly liked looking after them. They were good kids.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Thanks again, everyone, for the reviews! I know my summary sucks, I'm sorry. Hopefully the story makes up for that. I want to quickly thank my beta, Tripp3235 and that's it. Enjoy!

**Chapter 4**

Carlos was surprised to find that, as he slid into the doorway at exactly three minutes to midnight, he was the first of the guys home. He knew James was still out by the pool, he'd passed him on the way up, and it could be expected of Kendall to stay out to the very last moment, but typically Logan was home with at least fifteen minutes to spare.

'Unless he's already in bed,' Carlos thought, as he headed over to the room they all shared.

"No one's back yet."

Carlos jumped at the unexpected voice that came from across the living room.

"Katie? What are you doing?"

"Reading," she answered, holding up the book in her lap.

"I meant what are you doing still up?"

Katie shrugged in a noncommittal fashion, before turning her eyes back to her book and flipping the page.

Carlos felt he should be arguing his point, but decided to drop it. He often thought of Katie as the younger sister he'd never had, being the youngest of four himself she might even be the younger sister he'd always wanted, but didn't feel that any fraternal feelings he had towards her gave him the right to act on them. Instead he veered off towards the refrigerator and asked her if she wanted a soda.

"No thanks," she replied, sounding pleasantly pleased that she wasn't being forced out of the room.

Carlos, setting his soda on the coffee table, sat down opposite her and waited. He should probably just go to bed, it had been a long day, but taking off his helmet momentarily to run his hands through his hair, he decided not to. It felt weird to sleep when you knew that everyone else was still awake. Plus, he had a lot on his mind.

At seventeen past midnight the doorknob rattled and James and Kendall came through it together, stifling their laughter as they did, and trying hard not to make too much noise.

"You're late," Katie called over her shoulder, causing Kendall to jump. For a moment she'd sounded exactly like their mother.

James took a quick sweep of the room and then smiled.

"Not if your mom's not up," he returned.

Katie raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're not going to tell, are you?" James asked, sounding more annoyed than worried.

"Of course she's not," Kendall said quickly, as he quietly shut the door. "Katie's cool, aren't you?"

Shrugging and returning to her book, she made no further comment.

James took a seat next to Carlos, and once again looked around the room.

"What, did Logan already go to bed?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelieve. "How does he expect to do a full concert tour if he insists on going to bed at ten every night?"

"What?" Carlos said, perking up as he swung around to face James. "Logan isn't downstairs? I thought he was just hanging out still."

"No," Kendall answered, looking worried. "He's not here?"

"He's not home yet?" James asked, and of the three, he was the only one that looked amused by the thought.

"Keep it down," Kendall said, his own voice dropping to a near whisper. "If you wake my mom he'll be in trouble."

"So?" James fired back.

Kendall and Carlos both shot him looks that clearly said, 'not cool'.

"The last time I got grounded for being late he lectured me for two weeks."

"Yeah, but he didn't wake up Mrs. Knight and rat you out," Carlos argued.

"Okay," James said, leaning back and lowering his voice. "Fine. You're right. But I'm not waiting up for him."

"Me either," Carlos said, yawning as he got to his feet.

"I'm right behind you," Kendall added, watching the guys as they retreated to the bedroom. "Katie?"

"What?" she asked.

"Bedtime."

Katie stared at him for a moment and then, rolling her eyes, got to her feet and muttered, "Fine."

Kendall got up and stretched, thankful that their room wasn't next to his mom's, like Katie's was, and hopeful that Logan wouldn't be much later than he already was. He'd at least have a better chance of sneaking in unnoticed if they weren't all awake and making noise in the living room.

"Goodnight, Katie," Kendall whispered across the room.

"Goodnight, Kendall," she whispered back at him, and with a wicked smile in place, slammed her door shut with as much force as she could muster.

Kendall stared at the door, not Katie's but his mom's, for a half a minute before groaning as he saw her light flicker on. Quickly shutting his own door, he turned around to find James and Carlos staring at him like deer caught in headlights.

"Get in bed," Kendall whispered urgently. "Quick. If she comes and checks on us, maybe she won't notice he's not home yet."

Carlos flung himself up and onto the top bunk that he shared with James, who had turned three circles on the spot before diving onto his own bed. Kendall did his best to arrange the pillows on the top of the other bunk to look like someone might be there, before crawling onto the bed underneath.

"Light! Light!" Carlos said as fervently and quietly as he could, as James dashed out of bed, flipped the switch off, and hurried back under the covers.

Two seconds later the door opened and Mrs. Knight was silhouetted in the doorway. She took one look around the room and shook her head.

"Nice try, guys," she said, not bothering to lower her own voice. "Where's Logan?"

"In the bathroom," James tried, a feeble lie that ended up sounding more like a question.

"Kendall?"

"He went to a concert with Camille," Kendall sighed, sitting up and looking thoroughly depressed.

"Where?" his mother asked.

"I... I really don't know," Kendall answered truthfully.

"When was he supposed to be back?"

"Before curfew?" Carlos asked, hopefully to earn a smile and defuse some of the tension.

"Sorry, Mom," Kendall said, "but I really don't know that either. I thought he'd be back before now. Really."

"Okay," she said after a long pause. "All three of you, go to sleep. Now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mom," Kendall said.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Knight," James and Carlos said in unison.

"Hey, Mom," Kendall called just before she'd shut the door. "What gave us away?"

Smiling, she opened the door wider and, pointing to each in turn said, "Shoes. Helmet. Clothes. Goodnight, boys."

"Goodnight," they all said again. Kendall, still wearing his sneakers; Carlos with his hockey helmet still in place; and James, his favorite shirt, crumpled on the floor in a matter he'd never allow.

"How late do you think he'll be?" James asked, after quietly getting up and folding his shirt over the back of the nearest chair.

He didn't sound amused any longer, he sounded worried. It was already a quarter to one.

"He'll be fine," Kendall said, sounding as confident as ever, which immediately set the other two at ease.

On the inside, he was just as worried as James had sounded, but wouldn't let that show. Kendall strained to hear what was happening in the other room, certain that his mother was now pacing the floor. Likely, she had the phone in hand, trying Logan's cell and, at the very most, Camille's parents.

Kendall was thinking, as he shut his eyes, 'this is so bad', when a loud noise roused him, and looking at the clock, he was shocked to see that it read two-seventeen.

Even in the dark, Kendall could make out Carlos' head popping up from the top bunk.

"What?" he muttered, semi-coherently.

"Go back to sleep," Kendall hissed, getting up and crossing the room.

Hesitantly only for a second, Kendall pulled the door open and walked slowly into the living room.

"Mom?" he called out tentatively.

Rounding the corner, he found her in the doorway talking to Camille's father, who looked very angry.

"I don't want him near my daughter again."

"I know you're upset," Mrs. Knight was saying, in her best 'let's be reasonable' voice, "but before we jump to any conclusions about what happened..."

"What happened?" Camille's father shot back, angrier than before. "He keeps my daughter out till two in the morning, and I'm not supposed to jump to any conclusions?"

"Please," Mrs. Knight said. "We can talk in the morning."

"We don't need to talk. Just keep that boy away from my daughter. All of them," he finished, waving a hand into the apartment before turning to go.

Mrs. Knight was momentarily confused at that last bit, but found her answer after she'd shut and locked the door behind her and found Kendall staring at her.

"Mom, what..."

"Go to bed, Kendall," she said firmly.

"But... where's Logan?"

Mrs. Knight sighed, recognizing the fear in her son's voice, as she gestured at the living room.

"He's fine," she said, and it was then that Kendall realized Logan was sitting on the couch, in the dark, with his head in his hands. "He'll be fine. Just... just go to bed, okay honey?"

Kendall nodded, slowly making his way back to his room, and watching as his mom sat down next to his best friend and put an arm around his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Knight," Kendall heard Logan say softly. "I didn't mean..."

"I know," she said soothingly. "I know."

Kendall picked up his pace as it dawned on him that Logan sounded exactly like he had that time he'd accidentally broken Carlos' nose. They'd all been playing in the pee-wee league, and Logan had swung wildly, not really aware of how close Carlos had been standing. When it was all said and done, Carlos ended up bleeding on the ice, but it had been Logan who had cried. And then, Kendall and James got thrown out of the game for starting a fight with that idiot on the other team who'd laughed, not at Carlos, but at Logan.

Pushing the door open, Kendall wasn't surprised to find James and Carlos standing there looking nervous.

"What's going on?" James asked in a whisper.

"Nothing," Kendall answered, not exactly lying. "Just... I don't know."

"Is Logan okay?" Carlos asked, not bothering to keep lower his voice at all.

"Yeah," Kendall said. "Of course he is, he..."

Kendall trailed off, shaking his head. He didn't have any real answers.

James and Carlos took the hint and got back into their own beds without saying any more to Kendall, but from across the room, he could hear them whispering to one another in the near-perfect darkness.

Long after they'd fallen, Kendall remained awake, waiting for Logan to finally come to bed. It wasn't until after an entire hour had passed that he realized Logan would probably end up spending the night out on the couch, too embarrassed to face them.

That thought did not sit well with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 5**

Kendall crept out of his room as early as he dared, dragging his still tired limbs towards the kitchen, but stopping as soon as it came into view. Logan was sitting at the breakfast bar, facing Kendall's mother. It took Mrs. Knight a minute to realize Kendall was standing there watching, but when she did she stopped mid-lecture and smiled up at her son. She briefly reached out and tipped Logan's face up, as if determined to catch his eyes.

"We'll talk more tonight," she said without a trace of anger. "You'll be fine."

Then, dropping her hand to his shoulder she squeezed it briefly before moving to Kendall, pulling him into a hug and then saying 'goodbye' for the day, as she headed out to work.

Kendall, more confused now than before, stood stock still for a minute before heading into the kitchen.

Logan had dropped his head into his arms and grunted in reply when Kendall said, "Good morning."

"So," Kendall said, after having poured and drank a glass of orange juice. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Logan muttered, arms wrapped tightly around his head.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you're going to have to eventually," Kendall reasoned. "And, if you just tell me now, I can head off Things One and Two."

Logan let out a snort of laughter, followed quickly by a groan, at Kendall's usage of their very old nicknames for James and Carlos.

"Stop," he said weakly. "Stop. No laughing. Nothing... funny. My head really can't take it."

"Oh. My. God," Kendall said, unable to keep the chuckle entirely out of his voice. "You're hung over."

"Kendall, shut up," Logan urged him, bringing his head up off the table and pushing his hands against his temples. "Too loud. You're too loud."

"How? How did that happen? How?"

Logan looked at him, with sunglasses on Kendall noted, as if he couldn't believe he'd have to explain the how part.

"Okay, I know how it happens," Kendall said. "But you? I take it back. I don't know how that happens to you. How? How, Logan?"

"Would you please either take a step back or stop screaming at me?" Logan implored.

"I'm not screaming," Kendall said, doing as requested. "I'm just shocked."

"Logan!"

Logan and Kendall both jumped as Carlos came screaming into the room. Logan's head, slipping out of his hands entirely, dropped to the counter with a muffled, 'ow'.

"What happened?" Carlos asked, enthusiastically shaking his friend by the shoulders as he slid into the seat next to him. "We were worried. Are you grounded? For life? Where were you all night?"

"Carlos," Logan said as his hand shot up to cover his friend's mouth. "Please. I'm begging you. Stop. Yelling."

Carlos looked confused until, from behind Logan's back, Kendall mouthed the words, 'he got drunk' with a goofy smile on his face. Now that Kendall had heard what he assumed was the worst of it, the situation felt funnier.

"No!" Carlos shouted, forgetting Logan's request entirely.

"Oh, God," Logan muttered, pushing himself off of the stool, ambling back to the living room couch.

"How?" Carlos asked, clearly as shocked as Kendall had been. "How did that happen?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Logan said, falling down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "I just want to lie here and not throw up. Okay?"

Kendall and Carlos exchanged looks, both trying their best not to laugh outright, as James came into the room.

"You look terrible," he threw at Logan, who was currently wrestling with the lone blanket on the couch in an effort to get comfortable.

"Thanks," Logan returned, happy that at least one of his friends wasn't pestering him with questions.

"Hey," James said sharply, "those are my sunglasses. Hand them over."

"Fine," Logan grumbled, whipping them off and pulling the blankets up over his head in one quick motion, but not quick enough.

"What happened to your face?" Carlos exclaimed, pointing even.

"Be nice, Carlos," James answered. "Logan's always had that face."

When no one laughed, James knew it was serious. Taking a seat opposite Logan, who was now sitting up, resigned to get the worst of it out of the way. They'd already seen his black eye, they weren't going to leave him alone now no matter what.

"Fine," Logan said, taking a deep breath and squinting at the light.

James offered back the sunglasses, and Logan took them with a nod of thanks.

"Camille and I went to a concert with a couple of her friends from that shoot she was at yesterday," Logan began. "It was kind of lame, and still early, so her friends suggested this party nearby."

Logan trailed off a bit, and the other three knew that Logan had never wanted to go to that party, but wouldn't have spoken up against the idea either. If any of them had been along, it would have been a different story, but Logan's default setting was 'don't make waves.' He was only comfortable arguing with his friends, and it was one of the reasons why James and Logan fought so much. James took it upon himself to push Logan's buttons until Logan pushed back; he thought it was good for him.

"So we went, and it was okay," Logan continued. "I wasn't driving, but I didn't plan on drinking."

They all nodded knowingly. They'd all been to parties where alcohol had been served and the pressure to drink extreme. Kendall and James had both caved, on occasion, but not often. Carlos, never. The fear of his father's disapproval kept him in line. Logan however always took a drink if offered, would take one sip and then promptly set the drink down and 'forget' where he'd put it.

"I got us a couple of Cokes. Then a couple more. Then a couple more. And, after about five or six... I realized that they weren't just Cokes."

"Oh, man," James exclaimed.

"I know," Logan interrupted, almost looking angry. "I'm stupid. I get it."

"No, it's not that," James said quickly. "It's just now we know why Camille's dad was so mad last night."

"You heard that?" Logan asked quickly, turning to Kendall for confirmation.

"Some of it, yeah."

"Great," Logan said. "So, you know the rest."

"No," Carlos interjected. "No, we don't. We only heard him say you couldn't see Camille anymore. That's all."

"Yeah," Logan sighed. "That's all."

"What happened next?" Kendall asked, knocking him lightly across the knee.

"Okay," Logan said. "Once I realized I was probably drunk, I panicked and then decided to call you mom. And of course, Camille's drunk too, and didn't think we should call anyone, so she threw my phone into the pool."

"Of course she did," Kendall nodded, honestly not surprised.

"So, I asked for hers, because at this point I knew it was late, but I didn't know how late. And I knew we were in trouble, just not how much. And really, I just wanted to go home, but she was really upset and didn't want her parents to know what had happened. And, I didn't either, but I didn't see what else we could do. I couldn't even remember where we were, and then she starts crying - and not her fake acting crying, but like really crying - and suddenly we're making a scene."

"And she hit you?" Carlos asked.

"No," Logan answered. "No, her friend, one of the ones we'd come with... he hit me."

"What?" James asked. "Did he just come up and slug you or..."

"No," Logan said, dragging the word out as he struggled to remember exactly how it had happened. "I'm pretty sure we talked first."

"Talked?" Kendall said, sounding skeptical.

"Okay, we didn't talk," Logan admitted. "He came over and started yelling at me to leave Camille alone. I started yelling back that I wasn't bothering her, I just wanted to leave but she'd ruined my phone. And then Camille got in the middle, trying to get what's-his-face to back off of me, and the next thing I know is he pushed her and I punched him, and then we're fighting and some other guys pulled us apart."

Logan looked up and gave Katie, who had just joined them on the couches, a wan smile.

"Katie," Kendall said impatiently. "Go away. We're talking."

Katie scowled at him as she got to her feet, but she didn't go far, merely to the kitchen and back again, depositing an ice pack in Logan's lap as she gave Kendall another furious look, daring him to say more.

"Thanks," Logan muttered, putting the pack against his forehead for a minute before shifting it to the back of his neck. "That's pretty much it. Camille calmed down after that and called her dad, who had apparently been calling her for an hour without luck. The phone was off. He picked us up at the corner and... and it wasn't pleasant. Camille tried to explain what had happened, but he wasn't listening. He just yelled all the way back to the Palms, dropped Camille off, and then dragged me up here."

"What did my mom say?" Kendall asked.

But Logan just shook his head, refusing to answer.

"Is she going to tell your parents?" Carlos asked tentatively.

"I'm not sure."

"Well," Kendall said, getting to his feet, "why don't you go crash out in the bedroom. It's pretty dark in there and..."

"Nah," Logan said, waving him off as he got to his feet as well, albeit a bit unsteadily. "I'm going to shower and pick up around here or something. Keep busy. If I go back to sleep now..."

Logan trailed off again, shaking his head slowly as he walked to the bathroom.

As soon as the door had shut, they talking began.

"Will your mom call his parents?" James asked straightaway.

"I don't know," Kendall admitted. "She didn't seem angry. Maybe not."

"She can't," Carlos said. "You know Logan's parents. They'll bring him home. Mine would."

"No, they wouldn't," James argued. "Mrs. Knight would talk sense into them, but the Mitchells? Not a chance. He might as well pack now."

"You're mom can't tell them," Carlos said.

"I can't stop her," Kendall said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Then we'll just have to explain it to her."

The three guys all turned as one towards Katie.

"Right?" Katie said.

"I'm sorry," Kendall said. "How does this conversation involve you? Oh, that's right. It doesn't."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Help?" Kendall repeated. "This is your fault. You woke Mom last night, on purpose, and you knew Logan wasn't home. You've helped enough, Katie."

"How was I supposed to know this was going to happen," she argued. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to pick last night to go all, 'Rebel Without a Clue'."

"Ha," James laughed.

"It's too late for sorry," Kendall said.

"Kendall," Carlos reasoned. "It's not Katie's fault. Camille's dad would have woken your mom up anyway."

"Yeah," James agreed. "And then we would have all been in trouble for not telling her Logan was still out when we went to bed."

Kendall shook that off as unimportant. He'd gladly get in a little trouble to cover his friend's back anytime.

"It was still a crappy thing to do, Katie."

"I know," she sighed, looking ashamed.

"Why would you even want to get Logan in trouble?" Kendall continued, still irritated. "He's always nice to you."

Katie didn't answer, just got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself a bowl of cereal which she than began to eat as if determined to keep occupied and unable to engage in this fight. Kendall followed after her, but James and Carlos remained where they were, watching the siblings from the safety of the living room.

"He even spent the whole day babysitting you..."

"I'm not a baby!"

"...and this is how you repay him."

"Hey," James said, "there's the bright spot. If Logan's grounded, we don't have to worry about who's going to stay here and watch Katie on the weekends. He can do it."

"If he doesn't get sent home," Carlos added ominously.

"He won't," James said, dismissing the idea outright as he headed for the front door. "We'll fix it. You'll see. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the pool."

"Wait up," Carlos called after him, throwing a quick wave in Katie and Kendall's direction.

Kendall stood there, glaring at his sister for a minute more.

"What?" she finally snapped.

"You never answered my question."

"What's that?"

"Why would you want to get Logan in trouble?"

Katie emptied the last of her cereal into the trashcan and, without another word, rinsed out her bowl and stormed off to her room, leaving Kendall behind, angry and confused.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Notes: **This is a short chapter, so I might post another later today. My plan is to get at least one chapter out each day and I'm nearly finished with the entire things, and it does look like it will be 20 chapters. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! Thanks again, Tripp3235! Enjoy!

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 6**

"You awake?"

Logan lifted his head off of his pillow and peered across the room as Carlos, taking any sign of movement as an automatic 'yes', stepped into the darkened room and carefully shut the door behind him.

"I've been recruited," he said with a small laugh, as he climbed up Logan's bunk and sat down near his feet.

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked as he propped himself up on his elbows and shook the remaining sleep from his head.

He'd spent most of that morning cleaning and arranging, and then rearranging drawers, rooms, closets, anything and everything he could to keep his mind off of his problems. But, by mid-afternoon, Logan had become so exhausted that he had to take a nap, or risk passing out somewhere in the apartment.

Carlos didn't answer, just passed him an envelope that had been sealed, and folded in half, so as to be as discreet and small as possible.

"Where'd you get this?" Logan asked as he tore it open.

"The Jennifers," Carlos answered, purposefully looking at the ceiling to give Logan time to read his letter. "They got it from Jo, who, of course..."

"Got it from Camille," Logan finished for him, his eyes never leaving the papers in his hands.

After a long pause, in which time Logan had read through the letter at least twice, his face growing longer the more time passed, Carlos said, "How bad?"

"About as bad as I figured," Logan said with a sigh, still refusing to look up at his friend. "She's grounded, probably for life, or at least until summer. And, um... yeah, she's breaking up with me. Which, I get. Her dad won't let her see me, so... it'd be kind of hard to date like that, right?"

"Right," Carlos echoed.

"And so goes my first girlfriend," Logan said, finally putting the letter down while still unable to meet Carlos' gaze.

"You really liked her a lot, didn't you?" Carlos asked.

"I did," Logan admitted. "I really did."

"Sometimes I wasn't so sure."

"Because of what James said."

"You know about that?"

"Yes," Logan answered. "Do you think he was right? That I only liked Camille because she liked me?"

"Doesn't hurt, does it?" Carlos said, trying to make it into a joke.

"No, but..."

"I can't tell you what you feel," Carlos said quickly. "That's all you. But... I could see how that could happen. I mean, if a girl ever liked me enough to want to be my girlfriend, I'd have a hard time saying no, because, you know... otherwise, I might never get a girlfriend. We're not all lucky enough to have the girl we like, like us back."

"So basically, I should stop whining about girls liking me."

"Yes," Carlos said with a smile. "More or less. I was trying to be sensitive about it, on the count of you just getting dumped and all."

"Thanks," Logan said, laughing for the first time all day.

"I'm here for you," Carlos countered, slugging him lightly in the shoulder.

Logan laughed again, this time longer and louder than before, and only stopped when he realized the door had opened again.

Katie, standing on Kendall's bunk below, appeared at the edge of the bed.

"Mom wants to know if you want dinner," she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Logan answered.

"Mom!" Katie yelled over her shoulder. "He says yes!"

"Thank you, Katie," came the, not nearly as loud, reply.

"So," Katie said, obviously intent on not going anywhere anytime soon. "How's your face?"

"It's killing me," Carlos cracked, and then stopped mid-laugh. "Wait. I did that wrong."

Logan and Katie both broke into fresh peals of laughter.

"Okay, stop," Logan said, in-between fits. "For real now. It is starting to hurt."

"We know, Carlos," Katie said quickly, before he had the chance, as she hopped back down and made her way back out of the room. "It's killing you."

Carlos watched Logan's smile fade as he folded up the letter and, without the slightest hint of embarrassment, placed it under his pillow.

"What are you going to do now?" Carlos asked.

"Don't know," Logan admitted. "I guess I can start by apologizing to her parents. That might help."

"I'd wait a few days before trying that one," Carlos advised.

"Yeah," Logan agreed. "At least until my face stops resembling ground beef."

"Definitely."

"And then..." Logan shrugged. "I don't know. By the time they do forgive me, it may be too late. Camille could have another boyfriend; she's not shy. I may not even be here, so it might not matter."

"Boys," Mrs. Knight called, just in time. "Dinner."

The two of them headed into the dining room for dinner without saying any more. The meal itself was much more subdued than usual. It wasn't until after the meal was over, when they were all busy clearing plates, that everyone livened up again.

"So, Carlos," James said, drying the dishes and handing them off to his friend to put away, "where exactly did you disappear to all day?"

"Oh," he said quickly, shaking his head, "I had... some errands to run. Things to retrieve. Deliver. You know."

Logan looked up, mildly surprised. Curious as to how much trouble Carlos had actually gone through for him.

"And it took all day?" James persisted.

"Yes."

It was James' turn to look surprised. He wasn't used to Carlos shutting him down so quickly, but assumed, whatever he'd been up to, he just hadn't wanted to talk about it in front of the other guys and Mrs. Knight.

"What did you do today, Katie?" Mrs. Knight asked.

"Not much, just hung out at the apartment."

"All day?" Kendall asked.

"Yes."

"Okay," Mrs. Knight said as they finished up. "Looks good, boys. Katie," she added with a smile. "Now, Logan, I'd like to finish the talk we started this morning, so, why don't the rest of you clear out for awhile."

"Good luck," Kendall muttered under his breath as he passed him by, slapping him on the back.

Carlos and James made as little eye contact as possible as they exited the apartment. Only Katie lingered a bit in the doorway, frowning at her mother for a moment, before ultimately shutting the door and heading out with the rest.

"This sucks," Carlos commented, as they made themselves comfortable in the lobby sofas.

"She can't tell his parents," James said for what might have been the four hundredth time that day. "She can't. Normal parents would understand. Not his Stepford parents."

"They're not that bad," Kendall tried, an admittedly weak defense.

"Yes, they are," James countered. "I'm still not allowed into his house because the one time I stayed the night, I snuck in candy, which was, apparently, against the house rules."

"That was like in seventh grade," Kendall said.

"I know," James said, nodding fervently, as if this proved his point.

"Let's not talk about this," Carlos said, drawing his legs up into his chair. "It's depressing."

"Fine," James said, letting it drop. "Tell me where you were today."

"No."

"Gustavo is going to go nuclear if Logan's parents make him go home," Kendall said, unable to stop himself.

"Maybe he can talk them out of it," Carlos said, hopefully.

"He talked them into letting Logan be a part of this in the first place," James added.

"No," Kendall said, shaking his head. "My mom did. On the condition that he not get into any trouble."

"Any trouble?" Carlos asked, eyebrow raised because they'd all gotten into trouble during their time in Los Angles.

"My mom translated that into 'serious' trouble," Kendall amended. "And, this looks serious."

"Hey, guys," Jo said as she joined them, sliding in next to Kendall who threw an arm over her shoulder. "How's it going?"

The all muttered and mumbled their replies, thoroughly dejected.

"How's Camille?" Kendall asked.

"Okay," Jo shrugged. "Upset, of course. She didn't want to break up with Logan, but her dad made her, so..."

"Camille broke up with Logan?" Kendall, James and Katie all said at the same time, then turned immediately to Carlos who had remained silent.

"Camille broke up with Logan?" he tried, too late to feign surprise. "Okay, yes. I knew. I took the letter to him."

"Why didn't you tell us?" James asked.

"Because, it's not my business," Carlos answered, as if it was obvious.

"Later," Kendall said, putting an end to the fight before it could start.

"She's really sad," Jo continued. "And sorry. She feels like it's all her fault and Logan's getting all the blame. Is he in a lot of trouble?"

"Don't know," Kendall answered. "Camille?"

"Grounded for life."

"Or at least until summer," Carlos added, and then began to shake his head. "Forget I said that. I know nothing."


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Notes: **Short(er) chapter! Sorry it's posted later than normal. Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 7**

The only thing any of them could get out of Logan that night when they finally returned to the apartment was that Mrs. Knight was not going to tell his parents. Even though that's all Logan would tell them, they knew that couldn't have been it. But no matter how many times they asked, how they phrased the question, who asked, or when, Logan refused to tell them anything else about his punishment.

The next day was not fun. By the time their lessons ended, Kendall was in a temper, tired of telling people off for pestering Logan for more details of the event. James and Carlos weren't much better off, having set more than a few people straight about what had actually happened, before eventually giving up and ignoring the rest. Logan was the only one who seemed unfazed by the attention. He continued to give noncommittal replies, and, to the others surprise, spent a large portion of his time scribbling away in a notebook.

Camille was absent, as she was still working on set, and would be tutored there for the time being. Logan wasn't sorry for it, he wasn't exactly sure what would happen when they did get to see one another again. It was something he found himself longing for and dreading at the same time.

After classes, they headed to the studio, where things went from bad to weird.

Kelly, who had met them at the door, took one look at Logan's face and yelled, "What happened?"

"I kind of got into a fight," Logan answered.

"You should see the other guy," James added for good measure, looping an arm around Logan's neck, which Logan threw off immediately.

"Oh, no," Kelly said, shaking her head and staring at Logan like he'd sprouted antlers. "This is not good. This is not... good. What am I going to do with you?"

"Hi, Kelly," Carlos added, for no obvious reason.

"Hi," she returned, still distracted by the sight of Logan's face. "Okay... I think I got it. Make-up. We'll have to cover it with make-up and stick you in the back. Come on."

Kelly grabbed Logan by the arm and began dragging him off down the hall.

"I meant all of you," Kelly said, stopping before making a sharp left, and waving frantically for them to follow. "Griffin is coming by today with a photographer. Oh, Logan, this is not good."

"I'm sorry, Kelly."

"I'm sure it's not your fault," she said quickly, stopping them at the dressing rooms and giving them all the once over again.

"Kendall, you have to change," she said, and quickly held up a hand to cut him off. "And I don't want to hear any of your special snowflake crap right now. I get it. It's you. But not today. You," she said, pointing a figure at Kendall, "and you," she added, pointing at Logan again, "just get in there, pick out something new to wear, and get back out here. Now."

Carlos and James exchanged satisfied smirks, having passed dress inspection.

"James," Kelly said, her voice sharper than before, "wash that 'Cuda off, now. We've been over this before. It's not an attractive smell."

James looked as if he was going to argue with her, but decided not to when her nostrils actually flared in aggravation.

"What...what about me?" Carlos asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Kelly let out a deep breath, gave him good once over, and nodded. "You're fine. Just... don't put the helmet on until we're done, okay?"

"Okay," Carlos agreed, pleased that he'd passed muster.

Logan and Kendall reappeared in different outfits, ready to go.

"It'll have to do," Kelly sighed, pulling Logan over to the other side of the hallway. "Kendall, try again. And meet us in Gustavo's office. Bring James. Ten minutes. Got it?"

"Got it," Kendall repeated, throwing her a salute for good measure.

She just managed a smile at him, before another glance at Logan recalled the bigger problem, and she dashed back down the hall with Logan in tow, Carlos carrying up the rear.

"Is everything okay, Kelly?" Carlos asked, as they sped toward the one make-up room in the entire building.

"Not really," she answered. "I got a late start this morning and the battery in my car died. I just got here and I can't even get into my office. Must have locked myself out on Saturday night."

Carlos was about to say something, but they'd arrived at the make-up room only to find it empty.

"Um..." Kelly said, looking around for a moment, hoping one of the artists would turn up, before throwing up her hands and rummaging through the drawers. "I can do this. I put on my own make-up every day. Can't be that hard."

She held up several shades of base before deciding, dapping some on a brush and making her move towards Logan's face.

"Kelly," Logan said, catching her hand before she'd had a chance to connect, "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"I'm just going to cover the bruises."

"That's practically half his face," Carlos commented.

"Exactly," Kelly agreed.

"Yes," Logan said quickly. "It is. My face. I don't think it's going to help and it still kind of sore and, well, open..."

"You're right," Kelly said, sagging with defeat. "You just can't get your picture taken today. We'll tell Griffin you're sick, so, once I break into my office, you can hide in there."

"Thank you," Logan said, jumping quickly to his feet.

"About your office," Carlos began, clearly hesitant.

"What about it?"

"It's... well, um, just follow me."

Kelly, checked her watch, and with a few minutes to spare, agreed, but only if he'd hurry.

"Where are you going?" she asked, when he failed to make the proper turn. "My office is down here."

"I didn't know you had an office," Logan finally added.

Kelly rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not," Carlos said, smiling and pointing a bit further up the hallway. "Not any more. Remember when I told you I thought your office used to be a broom closet?"

"Yes."

"Well, I was actually thinking of this room," Carlos said as he stopped and opened the door in front of him. "Go on."

Kelly walked in and her jaw dropped.

"Carlos..." she began, but couldn't finish.

"It's not much bigger than your other office, but it does have more room. Plus, better lights and it's closer to Gustavo's office, which I honestly didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but... you know."

Kelly didn't say anything, just put her purse down on her desk, still stunned.

The room wasn't much bigger, but it was still a good size. Her desk actually fit into it without rubbing against the walls, as well as her old desk chair and two newer ones that were probably taken from the conference room. Her bulletin board had been hung and there were even some empty bookshelves on the far side of the room.

"I moved all your stuff, so you don't have to worry about that," Carlos continued. "And everything that was in here, fit in your old office fine. Your network is wireless, and I tested it first. Plus, the maintenance guy ran the phone lines. He's going to stop by later and put your name on the door, too."

"When did you do this?" Kelly asked, completely forgetting that she was on a tight schedule.

"I had some free time yesterday," Carlos said with a shrug.

"Is that where you were all day?" Logan said.

"It took all day?" Kelly asked.

"Yes," Carlos said, "and no. It didn't take all day. I mean, it wasn't quick, but it really wasn't any trouble."

"Did you paint the walls?"

"You do like green, right?"

"I do," Kelly answered, bringing her hand up to momentarily cover up the tears that had formed in her eyes. "Carlos, this is just so... so sweet. You didn't have to do this."

"Sure I did," Carlos said, the beginnings of a blush forming on his cheeks. "You deserve a nice office, a real one. You do lots of nice stuff for us all the time, and well, this is me saying thanks."

"Thank you," Kelly said, coming across the room and pulling him into a hug.

"You're..."

"Kelly!"

"... welcome," Carlos said, as Kelly jumped at the sound of Gustavo's voice bellowing her name.

"Oh man, Griffin," Kelly said. "Logan, stay here. It shouldn't be long, just keep out of the way."

"Got it."

"Carlos, you're with me," Kelly said, giving her new office one more look, a smile planted on her face. "Let's go get this over with."

Carlos held the door open for Kelly as they exited and, if Logan wasn't mistaken, he was still blushing and purposefully avoiding looking him in the eye. Logan watched them go, not certain what exactly had just taken place, but he had a really good guess.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 8**

"I'm done," James said, slamming his text book shut with such force that the other three guys at the table jumped.

They'd been back at the apartment for a little more than an hour and were each trying to work their way through as much of their homework as they could, as fast as possible, so that the could still enjoy the evening.

"You're already finished?" Kendall asked, eyebrow raised and not buying it at all.

"What'd you get for number twenty-three?" Carlos asked in a rush.

"I didn't say I'd finished it," James explained. "I said I'm done. As in, I'm done wasting my time."

Logan clicked his tongue disapprovingly, but kept his eyes on his notebook and his comments to himself.

"So you don't have the answer to number twenty-three?" Carlos repeated.

"Ask Logan," James said as he went into the kitchen to grab another soda. "I'm sure he's dying to tell you. He knows everything."

Carlos turned his eyes to Logan, hopeful. Sighing, Logan motioned for Carlos to hand over his paper, scanned it quickly and circled a few mistakes, before giving it back.

"You've inversed your equation," Logan said. "Flip it back and you should be able to get it."

"Thanks."

"Told you," James smirked, propping his feet up on the table as he opened his drink.

"Get your feet down," Logan snapped. "It's disrespectful."

"And gross," Katie added, dropping her own books on the table as she joined them. "We eat here."

"Fine," James said, throwing up his hands in mock surrender as he put his feet back on the floor.

Katie caught Logan's eyes as if to say 'do you believe him' and, unable to help it, Logan laughed, which only served to further worsen James' mood.

"What are you doing, anyway?" he asked, suddenly back on his feet and walking around the table to look over Logan's shoulder. "I know you finished your homework back at the studio."

"I did," Logan said without looking up.

"So what's all that?" James asked, pointing to the notebook.

"Nothing," Logan said, too quick to be convincing, as he slapped his hand down over the item in question.

"You've been writing in that thing all day," Kendall added, his own interest piqued.

"It's nothing," Logan insisted, turning at exactly the wrong time to face Kendall, giving James the perfect opportunity to snatch the notebook right off the table.

"Then I can take a look," he said triumphantly, holding it up over his head.

"Give it back," Logan said, jumping to his feet so quickly that his chair toppled over behind him.

"Whatever it is," James said with a laugh as he backed around to the other side of the table, "it must be good."

"This isn't funny," Logan said, moving towards James.

"Guys," Carlos said, his eyes fixed firmly on his work, as if determined to ignore what was happening. "Don't start."

"I'm serious, James," Logan said, still advancing.

"Guys," James drawled. "He's serious."

"James," Logan said warningly.

"So, what is it then?" James said, moving faster now around the table, opening the notebook and pretending to read from it. "Are you writing a book? Songs? I know, love poems."

"I mean it," Logan said, blushing in spite of himself. "Give it back to me now, or... or..."

"Or what?"

"Kendall?" Carlos called out, his voice laced with worry.

"Enough already," Kendall yelled. He hasn't wanted to get involved, but it seemed as if he had to. "James, give it back. Logan, just... sit down."

"I was only joking," James offered, having lost his bitter edge, as he tossed the notebook back to Logan.

"Can you pick on someone else for awhile?" Logan spat at him, accompanied by the dirtiest look he knew. "It's old already."

"It'll never get old," James said with a chuckle.

Logan sat down, fuming on the inside. Chancing a look at Kendall, all he got for his efforts was a subtle shake of the head, which Logan knew meant that it was up to him to drop it. But, he couldn't. He was having a bad enough week as it was, the last thing he needed was James piling on. And James always picked on him. He never bothered Kendall, because none of them did. That's just how it was. And Carlos was the baby of the group, so it was up to Logan to take all the abuse, and it wasn't fair.

And, he'd regret it, later he would really regret it, but before he could think twice, Logan spoke up, lashing out at the only person who never gave anyone grief.

"Well," Logan said, gathering up his things and shoving them violently into his bag, "if you do want something new to talk about, why don't you talk about Carlos and why he's falling all over himself for Kelly lately. I'm sure that'll give you a laugh or two."

"Leave Carlos out of this," James said automatically, without bothering to decipher what it was Logan was actually saying. As sure as Kendall would always stick up for Logan, it followed that James would always stick up for Carlos.

By the time that Logan had already stormed off, slamming the bedroom door for good measure, Katie and Kendall were both staring at Carlos with their mouths open. Carlos looked momentarily stunned, but soon began to pack his own school bag full of books, and muttering something about the patio, was out of the apartment just as the full meaning of Logan's taunt dawned on James.

"Wait," James called out, but it was too late.

"Why'd you have to start that?" Kendall asked angrily, wheeling on James.

"I was joking," James said. "It's not my fault he has no sense of humor. Besides, he's the one that crossed the line. Logan should have just kept his stupid mouth shut. Carlos didn't do anything to him."

"If you'd have kept your stupid hands to yourself none of this would have happened," Katie countered.

"No one here is talking to you," James shot back at her.

"Don't talk to my sister like that," Kendall said defensively. "And, she has a point. You're always pushing him for a reaction, and well, you got one."

"He took a cheap shot," James said, getting to his feet, his face going red with anger. "And you know it. Worse, you're defending him."

"I'm not," Kendall said, quick to his feet. "It was... it was low. He shouldn't have said it, no matter... That's not our business, whatever it is."

James stood there for a minute, waiting for more. When he realized that's all Kendall had to say, he rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air.

"I'm going to go talk to Carlos."

James retreated out of the apartment without waiting to see if Kendall would bother to come along. He didn't want him to. Right now James was sick of them both, Logan and Kendall.

It didn't take long to find Carlos, out by the pool, having taken over one of the cabanas with his school work spread out on a lounge chair that was acting as a table. James pulled up an empty chair next to him and waited.

"I still can't figure out number twenty-three," Carlos said, not looking up from the paper.

"The answers to the odd ones are in the back of the book."

"I know," Carlos shrugged, "but isn't that cheating?"

James watched as Carlos plowed through what remained of his homework, occasionally talking with the one or two kids who stopped by, but mostly doing what best friends do; just sitting by his side.

Carlos finally finished, pushed himself back into his chair and propped up his feet as his gaze swept the pool.

"Want to talk about it?" James asked.

"About what?"

James nodded and let it go.

"It's getting kind of late," James tried again. "Dinner is probably ready. We could go upstairs..."

"I'm not really hungry."

"Me either," James said.

"If you want to go, you can," Carlos said with a laugh. "I'm fine."

"No," James said. "I'm not going to just leave you here."

"I'm fine, really," Carlos said. "And, um... I think I'd like to be alone for a little while."

"Do you want me to punch him in his other eye?" James asked, completely serious.

"No," Carlos laughed, and began sounding more like his old self. "Don't do that. I know he didn't mean it. And, you know, it's not like what he said meant anything. Because it didn't."

"I know," James returned quickly, hoping to spare him further embarrassment.

"I don't know what he was trying to imply," Carlos rattled on, "but, whatever it was, it was ridiculous. Right?"

"Right."

"Just so you know," Carlos emphasized. "And if you wanted to tell Kendall and Katie that too."

"Don't worry about it," James assured him. "They know Logan is full of it."

Carlos nodded, his eyes darting back toward the building.

"Come on," James urged. "Let's go."

Carlos hesitated for a minute before finally getting to his feet and following James back upstairs in time for dinner.

Mrs. Knight seemed completely unaware of any further trouble having taken place. She talked pleasantly throughout the meal, asking each of them about their days, and chalking up any sullenness in the group to the general problems as of late.

Logan, already heartily ashamed of himself, kept trying to catch Carlos' eye and begin working on a reconciliation, but to no avail. Carlos avoided him entirely. The same could not be said of James, who spent the entire meal glaring at Logan menacingly, thinking that he might make good on his threat even without Carlos' approval. Kendall was entirely at a loss, feeling as if this time, pulling his friends back together might not be as easy as it usual.

Katie is what really saved them all from her mother's notice. She took it upon herself to be more animated and talkative than usual. She was afraid if her mom found out what had happened, she might change her mind and call Logan's parents after all, but she also felt really bad for Carlos. She knew how mortified she'd have felt if it was her in Carlos' position.

After the dishes had been dried and put away, Carlos had ducked into their room and was getting his street hockey gear together for a late evening game with James. Logan, seeing this as his chance to apologize, followed behind him. He wasn't certain, but fairly sure that James had tried to intercede, but Kendall had cut him off.

"Hey, Carlos," Logan said, as soon as he shut the door behind him, not surprised to see his friend's shoulders tense.

Logan took a deep breath and stepped closer.

"About what I said," Logan began again.

Without looking up from the bag he was rummaging through, Carlos let out a mirthless laugh, and shook his head as he said, "Don't talk to me."

"I'm... I'm just trying to say that I'm sorry."

"Save it," Carlos said, turning and pushing past Logan and out of the room without looking back.

"Ready?" Logan heard James ask from the other room.

Carlos' reply was drowned out by the sound of a knock at the door, and Logan, curious as to who it might be, came out of the room and into the living room, only to find James standing in the doorway with Camille.

James turned his head, looked right at Logan, and then shouted, "Hey, Logan! Camille is here to see you!"

This, of course, accomplished exactly what James hoped it would, and Mrs. Knight came immediately out of her room, gave Logan an almost pitying glance, before she ushered Camille out of the door with an, "I'm sorry."

"Thanks, James," Logan said, nodding curtly and taking a seat on the couch.

"Whatever," James returned. "Ready to go, Carlos?"

"Yeah," Carlos said, still refusing to look in Logan's direction.

They exited the apartment just as Mrs. Knight returned.

"I'm sorry, Logan," she said. "But, Camille's father doesn't want you seeing her and I have to respect that. She can't come over."

"I know."

Mrs. Knight smiled and went back into her room where she had been reading before.

"What am I supposed to do about Carlos?" Logan asked Kendall.

"I don't know."

"How am I supposed to apologize if he won't even talk to me?"

"Well, can you blame him?"

Logan was taken aback. He hadn't expected Kendall to be happy with him, Logan knew it was an awful thing that he'd done. And James reaction was a given. Logan even understood Carlos' reaction, even though it would make things more difficult to fix. But, Kendall sounded mad. Worse than mad, he sounded disappointed. Logan couldn't handle disappointing anyone else right now.

"Logan," Kendall said, stammering and uncharacteristically unsure of himself. "I don't know what to tell you except that you're going to have to figure this one out on your own. I can't help you."

Logan said nothing in return, just stared blankly at Kendall for a minute before nodding dumbly and casting about for something else to look at.

"I'm going downstairs," Kendall said after a long pause and was out of the apartment before Logan could say anything else.

Dropping his head back into his hands to think about what he'd done, Logan sat there for a long time before finally someone sat down beside him, drawing his thoughts back to the present.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Katie asked him, tentatively patting him on the shoulder in a way that he would have found amusing had he not been so depressed.

"What's to talk about?" Logan said, his attempted smile coming out as more of a grimace.

"Give them a few days," Katie said. "Carlos will forgive you and then James and Kendall will have to."

"Thanks, Katie."

"Any time," she said brightly.

They sat side by side for a few long minutes more, a study of opposites. Logan, pensive and brooding, and Katie, bouncing with happiness.

"Do you think you could do me a favor?" Logan asked.

"Sure."

"Great," Logan said, getting up and motioning for her to follow him into his shared bedroom.

Katie hung back in the doorway as Logan retrieved the notebook that had been the center of all the early controversy from under his pillow. He ripped out the first two pages, folded them carefully, and handed them out for Katie to take.

"Can you give this to Camille?"

The happy bubble that had been steadily building inside of Katie burst.

"I don't know if I should..."

"Katie, please," Logan begged. "You know I can't talk to her any other way, and no one else is talking to me right now, so I can't ask them. It's really important, and it will just be this one time, I swear it."

"My mom said you weren't supposed to see her any more."

"Which is why I really need you to give her this note."

"Logan..."

"Please."

"All right," she sighed. "But you owe me."

"You name it," he said, smiling for the first time all afternoon. "Anything. You've already got me for the rest of the week and probably several more weeks to come, so, whatever you want."

Katie smiled back at him and took the note.

"Thank you, again, Katie," Logan said as she headed out of the door in search of Camille. "You don't know what this means to me."

As soon as the door shut behind her, Katie cast one long look back at the apartment and muttered, "Yes, I do."


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 9**

Katie could have taken the elevator, but opted for the stairs; she needed the extra time to think. She should have gone directly to Camille with the note. She shouldn't have hesitated at all. She knew this in her head, but her heart was a different matter.

And inexplicably her heart was suddenly in control, and as the saying goes, 'all is fair in love and war.'

After checking, twice, to make certain that no one was coming down after her, Katie sat herself down on the bottom step and opened the note Logan had entrusted to her for Camille.

What she read made her stomach ache.

Katie wasn't sure that what she felt for Logan could be called love. All she knew was that she really liked being around him. A lot. And, well, the thought of him spending all his free time with Camille made her kind of angry and really sad. And, to be perfectly honest, maybe just a tiny bit jealous. It actually wasn't until Logan began calling Camille his girlfriend that Katie realized that something had changed in the way she did feel about him. Logan had always been around before, and when he wasn't as much, she missed him.

It was complicated. If someone would have asked her to classify the relationship, she couldn't do it, she didn't know how to anymore. It was easier with the other guys. Carlos and James were each like one half of her brother; they were like brothers. Carlos was nice to her and James teased her. It was just different with Logan, more muddled, probably because he didn't tease her or treat her any differently than he did anyone else. He was the only one she'd always considered her friend as much as he was Kendall's friend.

Reading the note a second time hadn't helped, but it did strengthen her resolve. She'd gone this far, there really was no turning back.

Katie carefully refolded the note and, instead of slipping it into her pocket, she dropped it into the first trashcan she saw on her way through the lobby.

Once at the pool Katie's eyes darted over the crowd. She spotted Kendall and Jo off alone in one of the cabanas kissing, which make her insides feel wretched. She knew that probably had more to do with the fact that he was her brother, but still, as much as she liked Logan, she couldn't imagine ever wanting a boy to kiss her like that. Not yet at least.

Another quick look and she found Camille.

Mind made up, Katie let out a sigh, and crossed over to her quickly, ready to get the worst of it over with.

"Hi, Camille."

"Hi, Katie," Camille returned, offering up a rather weak smile. To Katie's horror, her eyes were red, as if she'd just finished crying.

"Um... can we talk somewhere private?"

"Okay," Camille said, looking as if she might have an idea what this was about.

Camille and Katie walked a short ways to the adjacent park, which apart from the street hockey game that James and Logan were holding nearby, was almost empty.

" Logan asked me to come talk to you," Katie began, surprising herself by how easy the lie came. Well, it wasn't entirely a lie. More of a half-truth.

"I thought so," Camille said with a smile.

"Well, um, he got your note," Katie began, looking at her feet as they walked slowly around the park. "And, you know how you said that since your father was so mad that you pretty much had to break up with him..."

"That's what I wanted to talk to him about tonight," Camille interrupted excitedly. "I was really upset when I wrote that and was assuming the absolute worst. But, you know, I think in a few weeks, when my dad has returned to normal, it might really be okay. Your mom has been so great, she talked to my mom, and..."

"Yeah, well, about that," Katie said quickly. "Logan thinks you're right."

"Right?"

"To break up with him."

"What?"

"He said that you were right and that you guys were probably better off this way."

"Oh," Camille said softly.

"And..." Katie hesitated, but ultimately decided she couldn't do this thing in halves. "And, he was pretty mad, actually."

"Mad?" Camille asked, as if the word confused and angered her. "About what?"

"That you blamed him."

"I didn't blame him," Camille said quickly.

"I'm just telling you what he told me," Katie said, her defenses up, acutely aware that this whole thing could easily blow up in her face if she didn't tread carefully.

"What else did he say?" Camille asked, and Katie was happy to hear that she no longer sounded even a little bit sad.

"That it was really unfair that he was the one in all the trouble when it was you and your friends that really caused the problems."

"I said I was sorry," Camille exclaimed. "I told him..."

"No offense, but I don't think he's ready to hear sorry yet."

"Okay," Camille said, biting her lip and shaking her head in anger. "I think I've got it."

"Camille," Katie began, but couldn't finish. It was better this way.

"Will you give him a message from me?" she asked, having not even heard Katie say her name in her anger.

"Yeah."

"Tell Logan that if he doesn't want to get back together with me, that's great, because I don't want him back," Camille raged, just keeping her emotions under control. "And tell him that I'm glad that this happened, because now I know what a jerk he really is. Can you tell him that?"

Katie nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in this, Katie," Camille said after a moments consideration. "Don't worry. You won't have to take any messages from me to him again."

Katie had nothing to say in return, just turned and headed back to the Palms, leaving Camille to trail along behind her.

The entire way back to the apartment Katie kept thinking, 'the worst is over', but she was wrong.

The worst part of the whole thing was telling Logan that no matter what he'd written, Camille didn't want to get back together with him, because, and Katie had to do some improvising here, because Camille didn't want to wait for him. And, that Camille had said that he should feel bad and that it was his fault. And, this part hurt the most, she had called him a jerk, and Katie had thrown in that if he thought a few nice words would win her back after all the trouble he'd caused.

Logan didn't look like he knew what to say after all that, so he settled on 'thanks', which sounded ridiculous after everything Katie had told him of what Camille had supposedly said, and then said he was going to bed.

"Logan," Katie called, a surge of guilt welling up inside of her. "I'm... I'm sorry."

He smiled weakly and shook his head.

"It's not your fault. I'm the one who did this and now..."

Logan didn't finish his sentence, just shrugged, and left for his room. Katie stood there, watching his door until the sound of the other guys coming home shook her from her reverie.

Not wanting to talk to any one else, and a little bit afraid that Kendall would take one look at her and know she'd been up to no good, Katie feigned sleepiness and said goodnight, practically racing to her room.

Once safely behind her own door, she dropped on the bed and stared up at the ceiling feeling like a terrible person for causing so much pain.

And it was then that another saying came to her, as if straight out of the blue.

'Love stinks.'

* * *

"That. Was. Terrible."

Each word Gustavo said was punctuated with heavy fists against the recording bank.

"Terrible!" he screamed, turning up the volume in the recording booth to emphasize the point, getting little satisfaction to the startled jumps he got in return.

"Maybe they just need a break," Kelly suggested.

"Maybe," Gustavo said, wheeling around to face her, "they need to remember that they are being paid to sing. In key. With each other."

Kelly reached over and flipped the sound back off in the booth.

"I don't think we're going to get anywhere today."

"You're right," Gustavo sighed, his back to the guys. "But this can't continue. I don't care what's wrong with them. Fix it."

He wheeled back round and glared at them for a minute.

"All right," Gustavo said, flipping the microphone back on so that they could hear him again. "I'm going to go and work with some real singers now, so, all of you, get out of my sight!"

"Come on," Kelly said, waving the guys out of the booth and towards her new office. "I've got some sheet music for you to look over tonight, along with the rough cuts from today. Take them home and practice. Got it?"

Kelly handed out the assignments and Logan muttered a quick 'thanks' and left without waiting for anyone else.

"What's wrong with him?" Kelly asked, a little surprised by his sudden departure.

"He's - " James began full of anger, but Kelly quickly cut him off.

"Never mind," she said, sitting down at her computer and logging into her company email. "I'll get to that later."

"So, we're done for the day?" Kendall asked.

"Yep," she answered, not bothering to look up this time.

"Later," Kendall and James said, both at once, and then raced out the door.

Kelly sat, replying to the most urgent messages and typing up a new schedule for the next day, along with an updated to-do list. Before she knew it, twenty minutes had passed, and she was back on her feet, ready for her next meeting.

To her surprise, she wasn't alone.

"Carlos," she exclaimed. "What are you still doing here?"

"I'm sorry," he said, getting to his feet. "I didn't think... I was just going over this music and..."

"You're fine," she assured him. "But, I've got a meeting and..."

"I'll go."

"No," she said, waving him off. "If you want to hang out here, it's fine. But, won't you get bored?"

"No."

"Okay," she said, nodding and not really seeing the harm in it. "You know where everything is, so help yourself."

Carlos smiled and watched as she left for her meeting, feeling incredibly good about himself. He hadn't really thought it was possible, but now he was starting to believe that maybe it was. That maybe Kelly liked having him around in the same way he liked being around her.

Kelly was gone a little more than an hour and upon finding Carlos still in her office when she arrived, she got an idea. She might not be able to fix things between the guys, but it wouldn't hurt to know a little more about what was going on.

"Hey," she said, still standing in the doorway. "What to get some coffee?"

"Yeah," Carlos answered, his whole face lighting up.

"Come on," Kelly said, swapping her notes for her purse before leading him out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Thanks for all the great reviews! And, since it's been awhile, thanks to my beta Tripp3235! All I have to say for myself after this chapter is, it's not over yet. Thanks, enjoy!

**Chapter 10**

"So," Kelly said as they sat down at the exact same table they had a few nights before. "Spill."

"What?"

"Exactly," Kelly said with a smile. "What is going on with you guys? I've never seen the four of you like this before. What's that about?"

Carlos let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. For one terrifying moment, he thought Kelly was asking him about something else entirely.

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" Kelly asked, leaning over and looking concerned.

"Yeah," he said, trying his best to make it sound true, but his heart was hammering in his chest so hard he was sure she could hear it.

"All right," she said, without looking terribly convinced. "And is everyone else as okay as you are?"

"Mostly," he said, and then shook his head. "Well, Logan's not."

"James sounded kind of mad at him. He wasn't the one that..." Kelly trailed of as she mimed punching someone.

"No," Carlos said quickly. "No, it's nothing like that. James is mad at Logan because... um, well, they fight. A lot."

Kelly took another sip of her coffee, nodding her head knowingly as she set her cup back down.

"You're not telling me something."

"Kelly, I..." Carlos began, stammering horribly.

"No," she said, cutting him off. "That's fine. I don't expect you to tell me all your secrets."

Carlos took an extra large drink from his coffee to be spared a reply.

"But," she said, "you would tell me if it was something serious, right? I really want to help."

"Of course," he returned. "I know that. Part of it is, I think we're just kind of cooped up together too much. I love them like brothers and I'd do anything for them, but sometimes... sometimes..."

"You can't stand them," Kelly provided.

"Sometimes," Carlos admitted with a laugh.

"Well, yeah," she laughed along with him. "That's what families are like."

"Tell me about it," he answered with a laugh. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"One brother," Kelly answered. "He's older and lives in New York. What about you? Besides the other 'dogs', of course."

"Three sisters," Carlos said. "All older. I was kind of a surprise. My dad said that after Teresa was born he'd given up on having a son and then nine years later..."

"How'd your mom take that?"

"You know, now that you mention it, I think she was kind of glad when this whole singing thing happened. She finally got all of us kids out of her house."

"I'm sure she misses you."

"She does," Carlos admitted. "I miss her, too."

"And now I've made you homesick," Kelly groaned, knocking her hand against her head. "I'm sorry. I'm really bad at this."

"Nah, I'm fine," he said, brushing it off.

"So there's really nothing wrong?" she asked, still concerned despite his dismissal of the situation. "Nothing that maybe you can't talk to Mrs. Knight about; that you might need me to handle?"

"You?" Carlos repeated, and just like that his heart was pounding furiously again.

"Of course. I'm always here for you."

"Really?"

"All of you."

"Oh."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Kelly asked, really concerned now.

"Yeah," Carlos said, but it sounded weak even to his own ears.

Kelly studied him silently for a few moments with a serious expression that gradually grew lighter.

"I know what it is," she said, nodding her head as the problem suddenly dawned on her.

"You do?" he said, but she didn't see the momentary terror in his eyes.

"Yep," she said, leaning back and smiling at him. "It's pretty obvious."

"It is?" Carlos gasped.

"Of course it is."

"Oh, man," he sighed, dropping his head to the table.

"James and Logan are fighting over a girl," Kelly said, taking another drink and mentally patting herself on the back for having figured it out.

"Excuse me?" Carlos asked, lifting his head up just enough to look up at Kelly's face.

"Don't worry," she said. "I won't tell them you told me."

Carlos pressed his cheek to the side of the table and let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Kelly asked, leaning towards him and putting a hand to his forehead. "You really don't look good."

"I think it's the coffee," Carlos lied. "It's not sitting well in my stomach."

"Oh," Kelly said, looking a little worried. "Well, let's get out of here. I can drive you home; got my car is fixed."

"I think I'd rather walk."

"That's a really long walk, Carlos," Kelly said as they deposited their cups in the trash can and pushed open the coffee house doors.

He tried to argue the matter, he did, but she seemed really concerned, given how quiet he'd become, and wouldn't let up. By the time they reached the studio she'd brought up the word 'doctor' more than once, and Carlos figured the easiest way to avoid that needless torture, was to just accept a lift without any more complaint.

"Great," Kelly said, smiling brightly once more. "I'm just going to call Mrs. Knight..."

"Please don't."

"...and let her know you are on your way home, and that will be that."

By the time they were actually situated in the car and on their way to the Palms, Carlos had calmed down considerably, but was still rather anxious. On one hand, when he'd thought Kelly knew about his secret, he'd been panicky and sick. On the other hand, a huge part of him just wanted to tell her and get it out there and out of the way. Carlos really wasn't sure how he'd be able to keep seeing her on a daily basis and have her not find out, but then again, the idea of her actually knowing seemed equally humiliating.

What decided it for him in the end was his parents. They'd raised him to believe that the truth was never something to be afraid of, and with that in mind, Carlos took one last deep breath just as Kelly stopped the car in front of the Palms.

"Listen," he said quietly, his eyes trained on the dashboard. "I have to tell you something."

Kelly turned in her seat to face him but said nothing, only waited for him to continue.

"When I told you that James and Logan were fighting, that... that was true. And, you were kind of right, it was about a girl. But... okay, what happened," Carlos said, stopping and shifting towards her, without looking her in the eye, "...what happened is that Logan told the guys that I liked this girl. I didn't realize he'd known, and maybe I didn't really know myself, but because of that James has been mad at Logan. And I've been mad at him, too. Kendall, he's just trying to stay out of it... and that's why we're all kind of, kind of a mess."

"And this girl? Does she know?"

"No," Carlos said, smiling sadly as he stole a quick glance up at her. "She's... really kind of out of my league."

"Don't sell yourself short," Kelly said earnestly, patting him on the shoulder. "You're a great guy. You should talk to her. Tell her."

"You think so?"

"Yes, of course I do."

And when Kelly smiled at him and he smiled back, her first thought was that she might have actually gotten through and done some good. He really was a good guy and she hated seeing him get this upset over anything. The alarm bells in her head didn't start ringing until she'd realized that he'd stopped smiling. Carlos suddenly looked serious, too serious, and determined. By the time the bells were so loud that Kelly could no longer form a coherent thought, he was a breath away from her and then his lips were pressed gently against hers.

"Carlos," Kelly exclaimed, firmly pushing him away with the hand that was still planted on his shoulder.

"Oh, God," Carlos said, shaking his head as if emerging from a daze. "Kelly, I'm... I'm..."

"That was really inappropriate," she fired at him, putting both hands on the steering wheel of her car and looking down at the floorboards.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"I'm twenty-three and you're like... like... seventeen?" she asked, tentatively hopeful that this wasn't as bad as she thought it was.

"Yeah," Carlos agreed half-heartily.

Kelly whipped around, glaring at him.

"In another fourteen and a half months."

"You're fifteen?" she gasped.

Carlos smiled weakly and nodded.

"I'm going to jail. I am going to jail."

"Kelly, I swear, I won't tell anyone what happened."

"Nothing happened," she yelled.

Carlos nodded a few times, afraid to look at her again.

"Okay," Kelly said, after several deep breaths and an extremely long an awkward pause. "Carlos, I'm sorry for how I reacted just now."

"It's fine."

"No," she said, shaking her head and sounding more at ease. "It's not. That... that was mean. I don't want to be mean to you."

"Kelly, I get it. You don't like me that way, and it's fine."

"Carlos," Kelly sighed, dropping her head to her chin and shutting her eyes, "you really are the sweetest guy I've met. Honest."

"Yeah?"

"But," she added before he could get his hopes up.

"There's always a but," he mumbled.

"I am eight years older than you are."

"My parents..." he started.

"Are adults."

Carlos looked her in the eyes and the truth of what she was saying struck.

"You're still a kid," she whispered, her eyes overly bright with unshed tears.

It was as if someone had dropped a lead balloon in his stomach. Suddenly, Carlos found he couldn't look at her and he couldn't speak. He just nodded dumbly and tried to smile.

"I'm really..."

"Don't," he said abruptly, shaking his head and realizing that if she finished that sentence, he might not be able to keep his emotions in check. "I'm... I'm going in now."

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah," he said, still unable to even look at her, as he fumbled with the door and got out of the car as fast as possible.

"Goodbye," she called after him.

Carlos, who had already begun walking away, didn't turn back, just threw a hand up at his side in what he'd hoped passed for a decent wave.

Kelly watched him until he was inside the lobby, as she always did whenever she dropped one or all of the guys off at home, holding it together until he crossed over the entrance. Only then did she allow herself to cry.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 11**

"Eat dust!"

"That's big talk from someone who hasn't won a single race."

Katie laughed and then reached over and tipped Logan's controller in the opposite direction in which he was currently turning it.

"And now you're cheating," he added, but with a laugh.

They'd spent the better part of the afternoon wasting time on video games. Logan knew he should probably be going over the lyrics Kelly had sent home with him, but seeing as he couldn't get anyone to talk to him, he assumed singing with him was also out of the question. Besides, he was having fun for the first time all week, and, of course, he'd finished his homework first. It was a nice distraction from his problems.

"It's not cheating," Katie said defensively. "It's an aggressive driving tactic."

"I am never getting in a car with you behind the wheel."

Katie's laugh died in her throat as the front door flew open and Carlos stormed through the living room and into his bedroom without a single glance in their direction.

Logan paused the game and got to his feet.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'll be right back," he assured her, putting down the controller as he went after Carlos.

"But, what about our game?"

"Save it," Logan told her just before he went into the bedroom. "We'll finish later."

Katie slunk back down into the couch, waited a minute, and then just turned the console off entirely as she caught sight of something out of the window.

"Hey," Logan said as he shut the door.

Carlos was already up in his bed, lying on his back with the palms of his hands pressed tightly against his eyes.

"Is everything..."

"Just shut up," Carlos barked at him.

Logan hesitated, unsure what his next move should be. Even at his angriest, Carlos didn't yell. Logan felt like he really should turn around and leave, but ultimately he found he could not do it when Carlos was obviously upset. So, without saying any more, and as quietly as he could, Logan climbed up onto his own bed and sat with his legs off over the side and waited. Carlos let out several raspy, deep breaths followed by a very audible sniff, as Logan watched his shoes with increasing fascination for the next several minutes.

"I'm so stupid," Carlos finally said after what felt like an eternity, his voice still shaky with emotion.

After another deep breath, Carlos sat up and faced Logan from across the room, his eyes still very red, but overall, much calmer than before.

"You'll get a kick out of this," Carlos said with a humorless laugh. "I did it. I told Kelly how I feel about her."

"Carlos, I..."

"No, it gets better," Carlos said, smiling now in a rather uneven way that didn't quite reach his eyes. "It does. See, I thought when I was telling her all this stuff that she understood me. Not only understood me and what I was saying, but that she was good with it. I thought maybe... maybe... and then I kissed her."

Carlos clapped his hands together with a tight smile on his face, before putting his head back in his hands again.

Without thinking about the very real possibility that Carlos might knock him out if he got too close, and with good reason, Logan jumped down from his own bunk and quickly climbed up next to Carlos. He threw an arm around his friend and waited.

"So stupid," Carlos muttered after several long minutes. "What the hell was I thinking?"

"I don't know."

Logan patted Carlos hard on the back a few times as he straightened up and attempted to appear more like himself again.

"What did Kelly say?" Logan asked once he was sure Carlos would be okay to talk.

"She said some nice things," Carlos admitted, "but she made it really clear that I'd definitely crossed a line. That I'd freaked her out. And, you know, she didn't... she couldn't..."

"Yeah," Logan said, he'd figured that part out.

"I don't know what's worse," he went on. "The fact that she called me a kid, which just makes me feel so... small. Or the fact that, despite how awful... how awful that whole thing was, I still want it to work out. I know it can't," Carlos said quickly. "I get it, I do, but I still want it to happen. I can't help it. If I could turn it off, I would. I would in a heartbeat, just so I don't have to feel..."

"I know what you mean," Logan muttered.

Carlos turned his head, kind of surprised.

"I know exactly how you feel," Logan said, this time in a stronger voice. "That notebook? I was writing to Camille. After you gave me her letter, I got it into my head that I could convince her to just wait. Give it a few days, weeks, whatever... just wait for a little while. That we didn't have to break up and that I still wanted to see her. Only her."

Logan took a deep breath, hoping confession really was good for the soul.

"If I'd have had the chance to talk to her in person, I would have begged. I would have told her that I loved her and that I'd do anything... I did tell her that..."

"In the letter?"

Logan nodded.

"What..."

"She said no."

Carlos continued to stare at him as Logan took another steadying breath.

"She said no. That she didn't want to wait. She didn't want to wait for me at least. And now it's all so completely embarrassing, but at the same time, I wish she'd just take me back. I don't want to feel this way, but I do."

Carlos put an arm around Logan and pulled him sideways into a tight hug.

"We're kind of pathetic, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Logan laughed. "We kind of are."

Carlos jumped down from the top bunk and walked around the room in an effort to regain some composure.

"Carlos," Logan began, still red faced and ashamed, "I am really sorry for saying what I did. That was an awful thing to do and..."

"Forget it," Carlos said and he meant it. "It's over and you more than made up for it just now."

"I still..."

"I said forget it," Carlos cut in.

"All right," Logan said, willing to drop it if Carlos was, as he climbed down.

Logan and Carlos stood there awkwardly for a few moments, both casting about for something to ease the tension still in the room.

"Want to play some video games?" Logan finally asked.

"Sure," Carlos answered, glad to have something to do besides think.

"Hey, Katie!" Logan yelled out upon finding the living room empty. "Carlos is going to play, too. We can take turns."

"Where is everyone?" Carlos asked as he jumped over the back of the couch and picked up Katie's old controller.

"Mrs. Knight is working a late shift," James answered, keeping an eye on Katie's door. "I don't know where James and Kendall went. They're not exactly talking to me."

"Sorry about that."

"Completely my fault," Logan said as he sat down and then hopped back up again. "Where'd she go?"

"Who, Katie?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of watching her."

"Maybe she just went down to the patio," Carlos suggested.

Logan still looked worried.

"She can take care of herself."

"I really should see where she is," Logan said, still uneasy. Ever since he'd gotten into so much trouble himself, Logan had switched into what the other guys called his 'uber-responsible' mode, which made his a lot less fun and a lot more nervous.

"All right," Carlos said, standing up with him. "Let's go take a look."

"Thanks."

Before leaving they made absolute sure that Katie wasn't still in the apartment. After that they went first to the lobby, still no luck, and then tried the patio by the pool.

"If she's not here..." Logan began.

"Then she's probably at the park," Carlos finished before Logan could get himself wound too tightly.

"This is perfect," Logan grumbled as they weaved their way in and out of the cabanas. "Now I can finish my week as a complete disappointment to everyone. What am I going to say, 'Sorry Mrs. Knight, I lost your daughter.'"

"Like I said, she's probably -"

"Probably what?" Logan said, still looking around in the hopes that Katie would just pop up from behind the planters.

"Um," Carlos said, turning abruptly and attempting to drag Logan away, "let's try the park."

"We're not done here."

"Yes, we are," Carlos said, pushing him in the opposite direction as best he could.

Then, as Logan stopped fighting him and his whole body just kind of went slack, Carlos let go, and knew it was too late.

"Who's that with Camille?"

Carlos dropped his hands to his side in defeat, "I don't know."

"They seem awfully..."

Logan couldn't finish the sentence, it was too terrible to consider. But there it was, right in front of him and too obvious to ignore. Camille and some guy, laughing and sitting close together in that little out-of-way part of the patio frequented by young couples.

Logan stood there, transfixed, as this guy who he'd never seen before, leaned in close to Camille and whispered something in her ear. Camille threw back her head with a laugh and then happened to spot Logan. She gave him a look that was almost a dare, like she'd wanted him to see this, and then Camille was moving closer to this guy and Logan couldn't watch any longer.

"Maybe it's for some play," Carlos said hopefully, following Logan back into the lobby.

"I doubt that," Logan muttered.

"Forget it for now," Carlos said. "We're looking for Katie, remember?"

"Yeah," Logan agreed, momentarily distracted as his friend had hoped he'd be. "Let's try the park."

Just as they reached the door that exited on the side of the building, Katie came through it.

"Hey."

"Where have you been?" Logan asked, reaching new levels of anxious, that Carlos thought had nothing to do with Katie.

"I took a walk around the building," Katie answered, as if it should be obvious. "I thought you two wanted to be alone for your 'male bonding' time."

Carlos looked mildly offended, but before he could speak up, Logan was already talking again.

"You should have told someone or written a note. You just can't leave. What if something bad had happened to you?"

"I was just outside," Katie repeated.

"Dude," Carlos whispered. "You're drawing a crowd."

Logan did a quick circle and saw that was kind of true, but he didn't care if people were staring.

"You can't do that, Katie," he continued. "You just can't."

"What's his problem?" she asked Carlos.

"Camille," he answered truthfully.

"My problem," Logan insisted, "is that I told your mom I'd watch you and that's really hard to do if you just take off."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Katie said, her hands up as if in surrender.

"Let's just go back upstairs," Carlos suggested, hoping to at least minimize the number of people about to witness Logan's impending freak-out.

"Come on," Katie said, taking Logan by the hand and pulling him towards the elevator.

Logan seemed resigned, and then without warning dropped Katie's hand and began heading towards the patio again.

"Whoa," Carlos called, jumping out in front of him and shaking him by the shoulders. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm just going to talk to her."

"That is not a good idea," Carlos said, speaking from some recently acquired experience. "You're not thinking clear and you know you'll just end up saying something you'll regret."

"But..." Logan stammered.

"She's got a new boyfriend," Katie added. "Let her go."

Carlos frowned at Katie, clearly confused how she could know that.

"I've got eyes," Katie said, as if she'd read his mind.

"He might not be her boyfriend," Logan said, his voice full of doubt. "Just some guy she's sitting with, flirting with..."

"Don't forget kissing," Katie added.

"They were kissing?"

"So what?" Katie said, feeling her stomach burn with guilt at the look on Logan's face, but it was too late now. "You don't need her."

"She's right," Carlos said, lowering his voice and turning Logan back towards the elevator. "You don't need her."


	12. Chapter 12

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Shorter chapter today. I'm still working on the last few chapters. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read and review this thing! Enjoy!

**Chapter 12**

"I'm confused."

"There's a surprise," Kendall said with a laugh.

"Shut up," James fired off at him before turning back to Carlos. "So Camille broke up with him, not because she wanted to, but because her father made her. Then, when Logan writes her back to try and make it work, she blows him off?"

"And gets a new boyfriend a day later," Carlos finished for him without looking up from his current work. "Yeah. That's pretty much it."

"That sucks," James said, leaning back in his chair.

"When did he tell you all this?" Kendall asked, leaning in further across the table.

"When I got home," Carlos answered.

Given that Logan had been holed up in their room since they'd returned from the lobby, Carlos took it upon himself to tell the other guys as much of what had happened as he himself would want known if their situations had been reversed. Somewhere between no more than they needed to know and a bit more than they would have heard from anyone else. Carlos wasn't any hurry to relate any information about what had happened between him and Kelly, and had skipped that part entirely. He could tell James some of it later, much later, but hadn't decided if he'd tell Kendall at all. He knew he'd probably end up doing so eventually, but right now it was too embarrassing to consider.

"So you two are okay?" Kendall asked, sounding relieved.

"Yeah," Carlos said, still scribbling away.

James looked down at what he was doing and shook his head.

"Not you, too," he sighed. "What's with the notebook?"

"Oh," Carlos said, his face brightening with a smile. "I'm making a flipbook."

Carlos took the notebook and turned it over, thumbing through the images he'd drawn on the corner of each page, to give James an idea of what the finished product would be.

"Nice. Is that you?"

"Of course it is," Carlos answered.

"The shopping cart is inspired."

"It is one of my better pieces."

"Guys," Kendall said, pulling their focus back to the matter at hand. "What we do about this?"

"Leave him alone," Carlos said quickly, going back to work on his notebook. "He does not want to talk about it any more and I can't say I blame him."

"I think Carlos is right," James added.

"All right," Kendall frowned. "But, can you lay off him now, James? Please?"

"Don't make me feel worse than I already do," James returned. "I didn't know all of this was going to happen."

"As the offended party," Carlos interjected, "I declare the matter closed. Agreed?"

"Agreed," James and Kendall chorused.

"Hey boys," Mrs. Knight called out as she came through the door. "Sorry I'm so late. Did you eat?"

"Yes," they all three said in unison.

"Do your homework?"

"Yes."

"Good," she said with a smile. "Oh, Carlos honey, how are you feeling?"

"Fine," he answered, still drawing and ignoring the oddness of the question.

"Kelly left me a voice mail earlier saying you were sick. Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Oh, that," Carlos said, a pained expression crossing over his features. "Yeah, um... my stomach was... but now I'm... I'm... You know, I'm not feeling great now that you mention it. I'm just going to go lie down."

Carlos grabbed his notebook and headed for the bedroom without further explanation, leaving Mrs. Knight, and both James and Kendall, staring after him in surprise.

"Should I even ask about Logan?"

"No," Kendall said, shaking his head.

"He's going to have ulcers before he's twenty," Mrs. Knight said with a sigh, as she put away the few groceries she'd picked up on her way home. "You really need to get him out of here for a little while. Go do something. He's been inside for days."

Kendall shot James a puzzled look, before they both got up and sat at the breakfast bar, closer to Mrs. Knight.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kendall asked.

"Get him out of here," Mrs. Knight repeated, slowly, as if her son might be suffering from hearing loss.

"How can we do that?" James asked. "He's grounded."

"Grounded?"

"You grounded him," Kendall said, unconsciously speaking to his mother as she'd just spoken to him.

"I didn't ground Logan."

"But..." James started to say, but Kendall quickly took over.

"But he came home two hours after curfew, drunk."

"And," Mrs. Knight said, "it wasn't his fault."

Kendall and James sat and stared at her for a long moment.

"Your mom is awesome!"

"Don't go getting any ideas, James," Mrs. Knight said warningly as she shook her head. "You come home like that and I'll ground you until next summer."

"That's not fair," he whined.

"Maybe not," she admitted, "but it would take you that long to learn your lesson. Logan's already learned his."

"So," Kendall said, "if I came home..."

"Two weeks," she rattled off. "No video games. No phone. No hockey."

"Carlos?" James asked, curious now.

"Won't happen."

"Katie?" Kendall asked with a smile.

Mrs. Knight sighed, "Unfortunately, she'll never be caught."

"All right," James said, "if you didn't ground him, why is he hanging around here like you did?"

"Like I said," Mrs. Knight answered. "Ulcers before he's twenty."

* * *

The next day Logan had wanted to fake an illness to get out of going to class, or anywhere else for that matter, but felt he owed it to Carlos not to overplay that card, seeing as Carlos seemed to have developed the 24-hour intermittent stomach flu. Logan was the only one that knew what was really wrong with him and understood why it was so important that Carlos at least get a day's reprieve from the inevitable meeting between himself and Kelly.

Logan thought his luck might be getting better when he found out Camille's part had been extended and she was still taking her lessons on set. And, owing to Carlos, Kendall and James were acting like their old selves again around him. But even that good feeling soured when, as they were leaving for Rocque Records, Jo pulled Kendall aside and James and Logan were forced to watch them have a very obvious, but respectful, fight.

"What was that about?" James asked.

"Nothing," Kendall mumbled, but not before he shot a quick look in Logan's direction.

When they arrived Logan thought he was the only one that detected the slight hesitation in the way Kelly asked why Carlos wasn't with them, but didn't let it stop her from plowing on with her job.

"Did you go over your lyrics?" she asked, as she walked just ahead of them, towards the largest recording bay.

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to do this without Carlos?" James asked.

"We're only going to do a rough cut," Kelly answered. "Just to get the feel of it. It should be fine."

"You'd better be ready!" Gustavo hollered at them through the microphone.

Kelly gave them a tight smile as she left, joining her boss in the recording bay.

"Where's Carlos?" he asked her as the guys began warming up.

"He's sick," she answered, looking down at the sheet music with feigned enthusiasm. "Maybe James should just sing his part or Kendall... until he's back... you think?"

"Where is Carlos, really?" Gustavo asked.

"I told you..."

"Kelly," he sighed. "We've talked about this. You are a terrible liar."

"I'm not lying," Kelly said with an overdone smile. "Why would I lie about that? That's ridiculous, is what that is."

Gustavo stared at her for a moment, then wheeled around and faced the guys behind the glass.

"Where's Carlos?" he boomed into the microphone.

"He's home sick," James answered, confused as to why Kelly hadn't told Gustavo that herself.

Flipping the microphone off again, he turned round in the chair and stared up at his assistant and waited.

Kelly looked up and caught Logan staring, and as soon as their eyes met, Kelly knew that he knew.

"Oh, God," she muttered, blushing and putting her hand over her face. "Can we talk about this in your office?"

Kelly didn't wait for an answer, just headed out of the room with her head down. Gustavo was only half a minute behind her and looked concerned when he shut the door.

"What's going on here, Kelly?"

"I don't even know where to start," Kelly sighed, dropping into a chair.

"Let's just skip the beginning then," Gustavo said, sitting down in his own chair behind the desk. "How long has Carlos had a crush on you?"

"You knew?" she asked, shocked. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

"Of course I didn't know," Gustavo said. "But it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Four boys and you're the only girl..."

"Woman."

"...they're around every day. You talk with them, joke with them, scheme with them... you're practically one of them, Kelly."

Kelly didn't know if she should find that insulting or not.

"It was going to happen sooner or later," he said in his best reassuring voice, letting her know that he didn't think she'd done anything wrong. "The question now is how are you going to handle it?"

"I don't know," she answered with a shake of her head.

"I take it he told you?"

Kelly nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"And you..."

"I think I let him down easy."

Gustavo stared at her.

"Okay," Kelly admitted. "I could have handled it better."

"And now?"

Kelly shut her eyes and let her head fall backwards.

"Kelly?"

"I'll fix it."

"Great!" Gustavo boomed, back on his feet and out of his office seconds later.

"Yeah," Kelly sighed, getting up to follow him. "Great."


	13. Chapter 13

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes:** I'm so excited that I've just finished the ending (I was right, 20 chapters total!), and it's with my awesome beta Tripp3235 right now! Plus, I'm going to start drafting up my sequel tonight! Yay! Again, thank you all so much for reading this and for the excellent reviews! I've gone exclamation point happy! Enjoy!

**Chapter 13**

"I just don't see how you can take his side," Jo said with a sigh, as she and Kendall sat out by the pool, trying to be reasonable enough to get through this conversation.

She had pulled Kendall aside as soon as the guys had gotten back from the studio. Jo hated having argued with him earlier, and had hoped it had just been a misunderstanding. But, given his initial reaction, she saw that wasn't true.

"Because he's my friend," Kendall said instantly.

"Then you don't really agree with him?" she asked, looking if anything, relieved. Standing by your friends she could understand. Standing by what Logan did to Camille, she couldn't.

"I actually do."

"What?"

"Camille is really overreacting."

"Overreacting?" Jo repeated. "How is she supposed to react?"

"She can start by not blaming Logan for everything."

"She doesn't," Jo said, as quick to defend her friend as Kendall was to defend his. "Well, she didn't. But now she does, because it is his fault."

"It was her friends that wanted to go to that stupid party in the first place."

"Yes," Jo said with a reluctant nod, "but that doesn't excuse his behavior."

Kendall, having heard more of the story from Logan firsthand throughout the day, shook his head.

"She'd already apologized for that," Jo continued. "What else was she supposed to do?"

"If by apologize you mean blame Logan entirely, yeah, she did that."

"She never... Kendall," Jo said, really confused. "She's been crying practically nonstop."

"That would sound more convincing if she hadn't already gotten herself a new boyfriend."

"You mean Erik?" Jo said quickly. "That wasn't real."

"What do you mean?"

Jo pursed her lips and looked ashamed for her friend. "I told her it was a bad idea."

"What was a bad idea?"

"She was so mad at Logan that, well, she wanted to make him jealous. Since he didn't want to get back together with her, she thought..."

"Wait," Kendall said, holding up a hand and stopping her midsentence. "Who said that?"

"That's what Camille told me."

Kendall nodded and let it go. He wasn't going to argue about what Jo had been told, even if it wasn't true. She was only trying to explain.

"So, what about this guy?" he asked.

"It's like I said, she just wanted to make him jealous. You know, make him think about what he let go. She asked this guy Erik to act like they were together. It didn't mean anything..."

"But she kissed him."

"No," Jo said quickly. "She didn't. She wouldn't have. Camille still really likes Logan."

"Okay," Kendall said, shaking his head and growing more confused by the moment. "Forget this guy for a second. What made her think Logan didn't want to be her boyfriend anymore in the first place?"

"Because he said so."

"No."

"Yes."

"No," Kendall countered. "He's completely broken up over this."

"Well, he's not broken up enough to want to try and fix it. That's the message he sent."

"No, in his letter..."

"What letter?"

"The letter he gave her," Kendall answered.

"Logan didn't give Camille a letter," Jo fired back at him, but like Kendall, she was growing more confused by this whole affair. "He just sent..."

Jo was about to say 'Katie' but stopped herself in time, struck by a sudden thought.

"Sent?" Kendall asked.

"Forget about that for a minute," Jo said, still dragging out her words. "You said Logan wrote Camille a letter?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you're not getting that backwards?"

"Pretty sure," Kendall said with a laugh. "I mean, I know Camille wrote him, and I didn't read what he wrote her, but yeah. I'm sure."

Jo frowned, still not certain what was going on, but pretty confident Katie was involved, because Camille had never gotten a letter, but she had gotten a message.

"What is it?" Kendall asked, worried why Jo had suddenly stopped talking.

"Let's not do this right now," Jo said. It was hard enough discussing their friends like this, she really didn't want to throw in his sister as well.

"Fine," Kendall said, a little put off by her attitude. She'd practically started this fight, and now she didn't want to talk about it. "You know, I've got some homework to finish. I'll see you later."

Jo tried to smile as Kendall said a quick goodbye and hurried off upstairs, leaving Jo behind to mull things over.

Upon arriving home, Kendall found the place nearly empty.

"Hey, Carlos," Kendall said as he sat down on the couch. "Where is everyone?"

"James dragged Logan off to the movies," Carlos said, stifling a yawn.

"Did Katie go with them?"

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?" Kendall asked, seeing as Carlos was still in his pajamas.

"You know... it comes and goes."

"Well, I hope you feel better," Kendall said, getting to his feet. "I'm going to go finish that book report. I'll be in my room."

A few minutes after Kendall had left the room, there was a knock on the front door.

"I've got it," Carlos yelled towards the bedrooms, as he dashed off to answer it, skidding to a halt and throwing the door open without bothering with the peephole.

"Hi."

"Kelly," Carlos said, his entire face falling in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to check on you," Kelly said, still smiling as brightly as she could manage. "And to talk to you. About... about what happened."

"Okay," Carlos said, nodding vigorously and a little afraid that if he let go of the door handle he might fall down.

"I just don't want things to be awkward between us."

"How could this be awkward?" Carlos said, acutely aware he was still in his pajamas and that those pajamas were covered with cartoon dogs.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course," he answered, waving his free arm across the threshold, and then following her to the living room where they both stood silently for what felt like the longest minute of his life.

"Should we sit?" she finally suggested.

"Yes," he said, his nerves making the word come out of his mouth much louder than necessary.

Kelly's smile faltered as they both shuffled to find seats.

"I wanted to come by and say that I was sorry," Kelly said after taking a deep breath. "I'm really sorry if anything I said or did made you feel..."

"You don't have to apologize," Carlos interrupted her. "I'm sorry. I'm the one that should... I should have never... you know."

"But obviously my reaction made you sick," she said, and to her relief he laughed.

"I was just embarrassed," he admitted. "I'll be back tomorrow. I swear. I know you have a job..."

"This doesn't have anything to do with my job."

Carlos looked at her and waited.

"Yes, Gustavo wants me to fix this," she admitted. "But I want to fix it, too. I'd want to whether he told me to or not. You're important to me. Our friendship is important to me."

"Kelly," he said weakly.

"You're a great guy. You're funny and kind. And you're going to find a girl, your own age, who..."

"Please don't say that."

"Too cliché?"

"Yes," he laughed, but looked down at his tightly clasped hands, "but, I don't want some other girl. There is no other girl who would put up with me being, well, me. You're...special."

"Carlos," Kelly said, reaching out and covering her hand over his. "I'm going to drop the platitudes, because there is nothing I can say right now that is going to make you feel any better. This... this sucks. I know how you feel right now, I've been there myself many times, and it sucks. There's no magic cure. It's just going to take time. And if you need to sit around in your pajamas for a few days to feel better, then do it. If you need to yell at me or call me names, then do it."

"I don't want to do that."

"I'm just saying," she finished. "But, promise me, that no matter how you choose to get past this, that you won't think any less of yourself. Sometimes in the best of situations, these things don't happen. More times than not. A lot of love has more to do with luck than anything else. Being lucky enough to be at the right place, at the right time, with that right person."

Carlos looked up at her and smiled sadly.

"This wasn't our time," Kelly finished.

"I... I can handle that," Carlos said with a nod.

"Good," she said, giving his hands a squeeze as she got to her feet.

Kelly let out a sigh of relief as she crossed the room to the front door.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked, turning her back on the door to face Carlos again, who had followed after her.

"Yeah."

"All right then," she said giving him her best smile as she turned to go.

"Um, Kelly?"

"Huh?" she asked, turning back to him.

"Out of curiosity... exactly when would 'our time' be?"

Kelly shook her head, stepped up to him, and kissed him on the forehead.

"Later then?"

"Goodnight, Carlos," she called after him, as she turned to go.

"Goodnight."


	14. Chapter 14

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 14**

The next day, after lessons at the Palm Woods, Gustavo kept them all busy. He'd arranged everything so completely that Carlos didn't have time to feel awkward around Kelly, Logan didn't have the strength to continue moping about Camille, and Kendall didn't bother trying to sort out how all of this had resulted in problems between himself and Jo. James, who took these sessions much more seriously than the rest of them, was even worn out by the end of the afternoon, glad that at least it was Friday.

"What are we going to do tonight?" James asked when they finally arrived back at their apartment and slumped onto the couch.

"I promised Katie I'd take her out to play mini-golf," Logan sighed, resting his head against the back of the cushion.

Sensing that all eyes were on him, he explained.

"I owed her one."

"Can I come?" Carlos asked.

Logan was about to say, 'sure', when James interrupted him.

"No. No, you're not going to waste your night babysitting."

"She's not a baby," Logan interjected automatically.

"There's an informal gathering happening at the pool tonight," James soldiered on, ignoring Logan, "and we are going to find you a girlfriend."

"No," Carlos said, pulling a face and shaking his head.

"And then," James said, pointing at Logan, "we're going to find you a new girlfriend."

"Really?" Logan asked as if the word itself was sour.

"And then," James said, pointing finally at Kendall, "we're going to find out what's wrong with your girlfriend."

"There's nothing wrong with Jo," Kendall said defensively. "And hey, how about, instead of playing matchmaker, you find yourself a girlfriend."

"Yeah," Logan and Carlos said together.

"Because I am too pretty to be dating just one girl."

"I don't think I want a girlfriend right now," Carlos said, with a sad shake of his head.

"Me, either," Logan added.

"And there is nothing wrong with Jo," Kendall repeated. "We just... we're having a disagreement."

James didn't look convinced.

"So, can I come?" Carlos asked Logan again.

"Yeah," Logan answered. "The more the merrier."

"You two are really going to spend a Friday night, in L.A., playing mini-golf with a ten year-old?"

"Yep," they answered as one.

"Okay," James said with a note of finality to his voice. "Have it your way. I was only trying to help."

"Hey, boys," Mrs. Knight called out, having just gotten home. "How was your day?"

"Good," they all chorused, earning an approving chuckle.

"James," Mrs. Knight said, waving him over and handing out a package. "This came for you."

"Excellent," he said, taking off with the care package his mother sent him monthly.

"Anything for me?" Carlos asked hopefully.

"Sorry, not today," Mrs. Knight answered. "Oh, but Logan..."

"Really?" he asked, getting to his feet and shocked his parents bothered.

"Oh, no," she answered. "Nothing in the mail, but your mother called today. She said your phone keeps going to voice mail and she was starting to worry."

"About the phone," Logan finished for her.

"About you," Mrs. Knight said in what she hoped was a convincing tone.

Logan just smiled politely, not wanting to break it to Mrs. Knight that not all parents were good ones, like her. As far back as he could remember, Mrs. Knight had been single-handedly raising both Kendall and Katie, without ever complaining. His own parents couldn't find the time between them to even say anything nice.

"Give her a call," Mrs. Knight said, extending out the phone to him, which he reluctantly took.

"I'll just... " Logan rambled, pointing vaguely towards the bedrooms.

Dialing as he walked, his mother answered on the third ring.

"Hi, Mom."

"Logan?"

"Yeah," he answered, unable to help the sigh that escaped his lips. He was an only child. Who else would call her Mom? "It's me."

"I've been trying to call you for three days. Haven't you gotten my messages?"

"No, I'm..."

"Well, why not?"

"Because... I accidentally dropped my phone in the pool."

For a moment there was dead silence and then Logan thought he heard his muffled voices, which could only mean his mom had covered the phone with her hand. Undoubtedly, she was discussing the matter with his dad.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked once she'd gotten back on the line.

"I'm sorry."

"And?"

"It was irresponsible and next time I'll take better care of my things."

"Fine," she said briskly. "Your father and I will credit your account and tomorrow you can go out and buy a new one."

"Thanks."

There was another long pause.

"How is school?" she finally asked.

"Great, actually. Miss Collins said..."

"That's good," his mother interrupted. "And that music thing? That's still happening?"

"Yeah," Logan answered shortly.

"Okay then," she said, and Logan could almost see the icy smile he'd come to associate with his mother. "Your father and I are going to a charity auction. You remember the Hawthornes? Mrs. Hawthorne is hosting, so of course we have to be there. They have a daughter your age. Amy, no... Ashley?

"April."

"April, that's right. The next time your home, you'll have to call her."

"Sure," Logan answered automatically; it was easier than fighting about it, because there was no way he was calling April Hawthorne, now or ever.

"Don't give Mrs. Knight any trouble."

"I won't."

"We'll talk again soon. Bye, dear."

His mom had hung up before he'd told her goodbye, but that wasn't new.

"Bye, Mom. Great talking to you," Logan continued on sarcastically to the dead air on the other end of the line. "Not that you listen."

"Who are you yelling at?" James asked as he came into the room.

"No one."

"Your mom or your dad this time?"

"My mom."

"Hey," James said, "look what my brother sent."

James tossed him a car magazine.

"What am I looking at?"

"This," James said, coming over and turning a few pages to the one marked. "He bought a junker he swears he's going to fix up just like that one."

"Really?"

"Probably," James answered. Despite how he sometimes complained about his older brother, he really looked up to him. "He'll probably make a fortune selling it, too."

"What else has Mark been doing?"

"Still trying to convince my mom that trade school is perfectly acceptable and that he really does want to be a mechanic."

"She'll come around," Logan said. "He's good at it and it's what he wants to do."

"Yeah," James said, sitting on his own bed, "my dad will work it out. She's really going to freak when I tell her I'm not going to college."

"What? Why aren't you going to college?"

"Yep. She'll sound just like that," James said, smiling.

"But..."

"I'm not going because I'm already doing what I want to do with my life."

Logan didn't argue with him, but it was weird. When he'd pictured going to college, he'd always thought they'd be all going together. The way they did everything else.

"So are you really going to go play with Katie tonight or what?"

"I promised her," Logan said, throwing his hands into the air. He was kind of wishing he hadn't now. Katie was a good kid, but he'd spent the entire week with her. Logan preferred the thought of hanging out with his own friends tonight, but wasn't about to go back on his word.

"Your loss."

Logan rolled his eyes and tossed the magazine back at James just as a knock came at the door.

"Enter," James hollered, and Katie pushed open the door.

"Ready?" she asked Logan.

"Yeah, let's go," he answered, hopping off the top bunk.

"Have fun," James called after him sarcastically.

Logan didn't answer him, but as they walked into the living room together, he did turn to Carlos and said, "Ready?"

"Let's do it," Carlos said, smiling at them both and jumping to his feet.

"Carlos is coming?" Katie said, stopping in her tracks.

"Yeah," Logan answered.

"My all time best is four under par," Carlos chimed in. "But tonight... tonight I make history."

Logan laughed, but Katie didn't look nearly as amused.


	15. Chapter 15

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 15**

Katie sat in the lounge chair by the pool, moodily watching as Logan and Carlos sat talking with the Jennifers. She didn't know what was wrong with her and, for the first time, seriously considered confessing everything to her mom. Her plan had mostly worked, largely due to luck, but even though she was getting to spend more time with Logan, it never seemed like enough.

Like tonight. She'd expected that it would be just her and him, but Logan had turned around and invited Carlos along. They'd still had fun, but she was disappointed. And, to make matters worse, since they'd gotten back, he'd practically ignored her completely.

"Hi, Katie."

Katie looked up and sighed.

"I don't know where Kendall is."

"I do," Jo said, sitting in the unoccupied chair next to Katie's. "He's playing basketball."

Katie kind of shrugged and then picked the book she was pretending to read back up, in hopes that Jo would take the hint. She didn't really feel like talking to anyone.

"You know," Jo said, settling in beside her, "you may have gotten rid of Camille, but eventually he's going to find another girlfriend."

Katie turned to look at Jo, her eyes wide with fear.

"How did you..."

"I didn't," Jo said with a nervous laugh. "Lucky guess."

"You're going to tell Kendall, aren't you?"

Jo shook her head, her face set with a small frown.

"Camille?" Katie asked, and this time she almost sounded hopeful.

"No."

"You can't tell Logan," Katie said, sitting up completely and facing her brother's girlfriend.

"I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Thanks."

"You're going to."

"No way."

"Katie, you have..."

"No," Katie said quickly, getting to her feet and walking away.

"Then, I will tell your mom," Jo called after her.

Katie stopped, let out a huff of air, and then did an about face and walked right back to Jo.

"What do you want?" Katie asked, completely serious.

Jo furrowed her brow in confusion.

"I know how this racket works," Katie continued. "So, what does it take to keep you quiet? Money? Because I've got money."

"Katie, I'm not blackmailing you."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get you to do the right thing. You broke up -"

Katie interrupted her with a loud, "Shh!"

Jo rolled her eyes and took Katie gently by the elbow, walking her out of the semi-crowded pool area and off to the side.

"Katie," Jo tried again. "You lied to both of them. And sooner or later someone, who's not me, is going to figure that out. You have to tell the truth now, before this really gets out of control. Right now, it's still fixable, but if you wait too long..."

"I can't," Katie said, her voice small in her own ears. "He's going to hate me. I know it was wrong, but... I didn't know what else to do."

"You really like him a lot," Jo remarked.

Katie didn't answer her, but she really didn't need to. Jo knew that Mrs. Knight was a great mom, but thought that it still must be kind of lonely for Katie to be surrounded by nothing but boys older than she was all of the time. Katie was tough, tougher than most adults Jo knew, but she was still a young girl on the verge of becoming a young woman.

"Katie, there's really nothing else you can do. You're going to have to come clean"

"About everything?"

"Afraid so."

"But... what if he laughs?"

"He won't," Jo assured her.

"He might."

"Logan won't laugh at you," Jo repeated, believing it.

"Camille's going to freak out," Katie said, blowing out a breath of air.

"I'll handle Camille," Jo offered, "but you have to tell Logan."

"Okay," Katie sighed. "How's next week sound?"

"How's tonight sound?"

"Ugh," Katie said, throwing her head back in frustration. "Okay. Tonight. I'll... I'll tell him tonight. I'll do it now even. Might as well."

Jo watched as Katie took several slow steps in Logan's direction, before wheeling back around at her with a pleading look on her face.

"Are you sure I can't just give you some money?"

"Katie."

"All right," she sighed, and headed off to what felt like her doom.

Katie slid into the empty chair next to Logan's and waited for her opening. It wasn't easy coming, Logan seemed really intent on engaging all of his attention on the three girls at the table with him and Carlos. And, because of that, and maybe because she hoped he didn't really like Camille as much as he thought he did, Katie reconsidered. If Logan was happier, and right now he did look happier, maybe she hadn't done too bad of a thing after all.

And then, just when she'd decided she'd go back and argue her point to Jo again, she caught it. Logan's eyes darted off briefly in the direction he'd last spotted Camille. And she knew what was behind that look; she knew exactly how he felt at that moment, because not ten minutes ago it had been her looking at him that same way.

"Logan?"

"Hey, Katie," he said, just noticing she'd joined them.

"Can... Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course."

Katie stood up and motioned for him to follow, which he did a bit reluctantly. She wound through the various people hanging out on the patio, through the lobby, and out the side door that led off to the park.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Here," Katie said, smiling weakly as she sat down on one of the benches. There were still plenty of kids out, but most of them were over at the basketball courts, so they were relatively alone.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her as he took a seat on her left.

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay."

"You know the night you came home late?"

"Yeah, I remember," he said with the hint of a smile.

"Well, I kind of..."

"Katie," Logan cut her off, shaking his head and now smiling for real. "I know you woke your mom up. Kendall told me. You don't have to say sorry..."

"It's not just that."

Logan sat up straighter and turned towards her now, curious as to what more there could be.

"There's really no good way to do this," she muttered under her breath, hands clasped tightly before her.

"Sorry?" Logan said, leaning in but for a long time she didn't speak.

"You asked me... You remember that note you gave me," Katie continued awkwardly. "That... that..."

"What about it?"

"Logan..."

Katie took another deep breath and the words seemed stuck. She was trying to get them out, but found she couldn't speak.

"Katie, what is it?"

"I never gave it to Camille," she finally blurted out.

For a minute or more, Logan just stared at her as if he'd heard what she'd said but couldn't process the meaning.

"What?"

"I never gave her your note," Katie repeated, looking now at her shoes. Afraid to meet his eyes.

Logan didn't say anything, and after another long minute of complete silence, she hazarded a glance up at him.

"What did you tell her?" he finally asked, but his voice had become so quiet, Katie almost hadn't heard him at all.

"I told her that you didn't want to see her anymore."

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked her, that worry line of his etched firmly above his brow. He wasn't yelling, but the words had still come out harsh.

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head and mentally kicking herself as she felt the first few tears slip down her cheeks.

"Then why? Why would you do that? Katie, do you know what you've done? What you've put me through? I thought -"

"I'm really sorry."

"Sorry?" he repeated, and she was shocked to see that he had tears in his eyes that matched hers. "I don't understand. Why?"

"I don't know," she lied, more out of panic than self-preservation.

"Was it a joke?" he asked again, because it was the only reason he could come up with for what she'd done. "Was this something you did because you were bored? What? What made you do this to me? And Camille, too."

Logan got up abruptly and walked a few feet away from the bench and back again, trying to remain calm.

"I didn't think it would be like this," she said quietly.

"Then what did you think was going to happen?"

"I just thought... I thought if you weren't seeing her anymore... I thought you might have more time to spend..." Katie stopped and fumbled for some way to avoid actually saying it. " ...with other people."

"So this whole thing? All of it was just... just, for what? Because you wanted me to hang out? I don't..."

Katie said nothing, just looked down at her hands.

"Did you pay that guy to punch me?" Logan had to ask.

"No," she vehemently denied.

"And the thing with your mom? Her wanting one of us to watch you?"

"I may have exaggerated that a bit."

Logan let out a humorless laugh as he dropped his head down into his hands.

"I'm really sorry."

"You know, Katie, if you wanted to spend time with me, you could have just asked. You could have just said, 'Hey Logan, lets go to the pool' and I would have gone. I'm your friend, Katie. You didn't have to... Why'd you -"

It struck him so suddenly that he felt like his whole body had gone numb. Without her ever saying so, Logan knew. It had all clicked neatly into place, and he stopped feeling sorry for himself and looked her in the eyes.

"Katie," he said, no longer hurt or confused, but too late. She'd already ran away.


	16. Chapter 16

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Almost done! I'm already about six chapters into writing the follow-up, so that one should be coming out shortly after this one ends! Thanks again for reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

**Chapter 16**

Just before Jo had confronted Katie with the scant evidence she'd had, Camille had been seated at one of the nearby tables, trying hard not to let her gaze linger long on Logan or those annoying, and inexplicably giggling, trio of girls that sat with him and Carlos. Part of her was burning up with fury that this was the punishment he'd been so angry about. It seemed to her that he'd been grounded for little less than a week. In the very least he could have written her back, but instead he'd sent a little girl to tell her for him, making him not only a jerk but a coward.

Fed up, wishing she'd thought of asking Erik back over tonight so she could show Logan what flirting really looked like, Camille stormed off. She wasn't about to sit here, watching this, and making herself even more miserable than she already was.

But she kept asking herself 'How could he do this?' She thought she'd known him better than that, but evidentially, she'd been wrong. Unbidden tears began to roll down her face, which she hastened to wipe away as she crossed through the lobby and into the stairwell. Camille had always been an emotional person, she thought of it as a strength, not a weakness. An actress had to be an emotional person, but it was getting ridiculous. She was just so hurt by it all, she couldn't help herself.

Sitting down on the bottom step, Camille indulged in her tears for a few minutes, hoping to just get it out of her system so she could go back up to her apartment and meet her parents scrutinizing gaze without having them worried. But before she could finish her cry, the door banged open and a hurried step brought one of the last people she wanted to see into view.

James came to a dead halt and even staggered backwards on finding Camille staring up at him with a reproachful glare.

"Excuse me," he said as politely as he could as he made to move around her.

"Don't mind me," she called bitterly after him. In her anger, and part of her knew it wasn't fair, Camille had begun blaming Logan's friends as well. They certainly hadn't helped the situation in any way she could see.

James stopped three steps up the stairs and turned back around, unable to let it go.

"Camille," James started slowly, "I shouldn't even be talking to you, after how you treated Logan..."

"How I treated him?"

"But," he interrupted, moving a few steps closer to her, "I have to know. How could you do that to him?"

"Oh, shut up, James," Camille said, breaking out in a fresh wave of tears. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know it's your fault that..."

"Why does everyone think this is my fault?" she said, this time interrupting him, as she jumped to her feet. "Don't you think I'm sorry? Do you think this is what I wanted to happen? I made a mistake. We should have never gone to that stupid party."

"It has nothing to do with that," James said, talking as calmly as he could and really not wanting to upset Camille any more than she already was, but nevertheless angry on Logan's behave. "It's about after..."

"After?" she asked, catching onto the word as if it was a lifeline. "So, I do what my parents tell me to do and that's it? He can't handle that? I mean, what else was I supposed to do, James? What?"

Before James could answer her, Camille had broken down completely into uncontrolled tears. James looked around nervously, uncertain as to what he should do. For all his talk, James hadn't been around that many girls, and the ones he knew didn't do this. All the women in his life, like his mom and Kendall's mom, just weren't criers. So he did the only thing he could think to do, which was to jump down the last few remaining steps between them and tentatively put an arm around her. She turned instantly and crushed her face against his chest, sporadic babbling issuing out between her sobs.

"Camille," James said, softly patting on her back, and feeling an odd sense of guilt in the pit of his stomach as he realized he was actually holding her. "Don't cry. It'll be okay. It will."

"No it won't," she managed to croak out.

"Listen," James began, but the sound of the door flying open behind him startled the rest of his sentence right out of his throat.

Katie bolted past them and up the steps, her face very red, without saying a word or acknowledging their presence. James and Camille both had just enough time to register this event when the door swung open again and there was Logan.

His sneakers actually squeaked, Logan stopped so quickly and did a double take. And with his mouth hung open, stared at them, waiting for an explanation.

"Are you kidding me?" Logan finally snapped, when none was forthcoming.

Camille, as angry as she was with Logan, was horrified at how this must look. And, given that James, in shock, still hadn't let go of her, she did the only thing she could and pushed him away with a hard shove. That finally brought James back to his own senses, as he began to shake his head vigorously.

"This is not what you think," James managed, but the deep blush that spread across his cheeks was less than convincing.

Logan shut his eyes and took a deep breath, telling himself over and over that they didn't know. Camille and James didn't know what Katie had done. They didn't know that this entire break-up was a really awful misunderstanding. But, even if it was, nothing could excuse or explain this.

"Logan," Camille said, her voice uneven, "I wouldn't... you know I wouldn't do this."

"You had a boyfriend, like, two days after you'd broken up with me... or you'd thought I'd broken up with you," Logan stammered, the details jumbled in his own mind.

"He wasn't my boyfriend," she confessed. "I was just trying to make you jealous."

"Make me jealous," Logan repeated, looking from Camille to James.

"No," they both said together, understanding exactly how Logan had interpreted the remark.

"I can't do this," Logan said, shaking his head and turning for the stairs. "I've got other things to take care of right now and I can't... I can't do this."

"Logan," James called after him. "Really, I know you're upset but if you'd just listen..."

"I'm done," Logan said, without looking back. "If you want James, Camille, then... fine. Have him."

"Logan," James repeated, running up after him, reaching for his shoulder.

Logan wheeled round on him and pushed his hand off with surprising force. The shock was obvious on James face, as he staggered backwards a few steps. Camille ran forward and instinctively braced him, in case he'd fallen completely down the steps, which in Logan's mind confirmed the absolute worst. Unable to even look at them any longer, he turned and resumed, at a faster pace than before, his march up the steps.

"Let him go," Camille said, grabbing James by the arm as he attempted to follow. "I can't do this either. If I needed any more proof that this is not going to happen, then..." Camille stopped and gestured hopeless up the stairs.

"I'll talk to him," James assured her. "I mean, he can't possibly think..."

"Who knows," Camille sighed. "I used to think I did, but not anymore."

"It'll be fine."

"No it won't," she returned, smiling sadly up at him.

"It will," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Let me talk to him. Once he calms down and I explain..."

Again, the door banged open, and before James could finish his sentence, Kendall and Jo were staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" Kendall asked, looking nearly as angry as Logan had.

"We have got to get out of this stairwell," James sighed, dropping his hands and shaking his head.

"No, seriously," Kendall said. "What is going on?"

"Nothing," Camille answered through gritted teeth. "Not that Logan believed us."

"Well," Kendall dragged out. "Look at you."

"It does look bad," Jo agreed with frown.

"Really? You, too?" James asked, starting to get angry now himself. "Do you really think I'd do that? Really?"

"No," Kendall said without hesitation. "And whatever Logan saw," he stopped quickly at the look James threw at him and amended his statement, "or didn't see, he'll come around. Eventually."

"I don't care if he does," Camille said. "If he doesn't want to be my boyfriend, he can't get mad every time he sees me with someone else."

"Yeah," Kendall said, "I'm still really confused about this whole Logan does-and-doesn't want to be your boyfriend thing."

"Me, too," James said.

"What's confusing about it?" Camille asked. "He said he doesn't want me to be his girlfriend."

Kendall and James exchanged bemused glances.

"Camille," Jo spoke up, "I really need to talk to you."

"Later, okay?" she sighed. "I'm going to bed."

"But..." Jo argued, but Camille was already out the door before she could stop her.

"You okay?" Kendall asked her.

"Not really," she admitted with a wan smile. "Listen, I'm going to try and catch up with Camille. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Okay," Kendall said, smiling as he leaned down and quickly kissed her goodnight.

After Jo ran off after Camille, James looked up the stairwell apprehensively.

"Do you think it's safe yet?"

"Probably not," Kendall answered. "But you don't have a lot of choice. Curfew."

"You do believe me, right? Nothing was happening."

"If you say nothing happened," Kendall said, "then nothing happened."

"Good."

Kendall and James climbed the rest of the stairs in silence. When they got to the apartment the first thing they saw was Carlos, looking anxious, and sitting on the back of the couch.

"Katie, please open the door," Mrs. Knight was calling, standing close to the bathroom off of the kitchen.

Logan was also in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his arms folded across his chest, looking miserable.

"What's going on?" Kendall asked, his eyes darting from Carlos to Logan, before landing on his mother.

"It's nothing," she said quickly.

Kendall noticed Logan wouldn't look at him, so he turned to Carlos.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I just got here."

"Kendall," Mrs. Knight said sharply. "You, Carlos and James, just go to bed."

"Why does Logan..."

"Now," she interrupted, and he knew that all arguments had ended.

The three of them all went to their room, waiting until the door shut, before they started talking.

"What was that about?" Kendall asked Carlos.

"I told you, I don't know," he answered. "I got home a few minutes ago and by then Katie was already in the bathroom and your mom was trying to persuade her out of it."

"Logan was following Katie up the stairs," James added. "She looked upset. But then, so did he."

"Well, yeah, he caught you..."

"Doing nothing," James interjected loudly, earning a 'shush' from the other two.

"What were you doing?" Carlos asked.

"I was talking to Camille."

"With your arms around her," Kendall added.

Before Carlos could exclaim, James waved his hand in front of himself, shaking his head, and saying, "No. It wasn't like that at all. She was crying. I found her, crying, and I only stopped to talk."

"Then how..." Carlos began to ask, but Kendall 'shushed' him.

"Forget that," he said in a huff. "What's wrong with Katie?"

"Kendall, I don't know," Carlos repeated for the third time now.

"And we're not going to know," James said, starting to get ready for bed, "because your mom is not going to let us out of here for the rest of the night. She had on her serious face and that look does not bode well for anyone."

"I'm sure we'll find out in the morning," Carlos said to Kendall, as he too went to get ready for bed.

Kendall's eyes remained fixed on the door for a few minutes before deciding that there was nothing he could do about it tonight and so, like the others, he went to bed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 17**

Logan hadn't had much time to explain to Mrs. Knight what was going on before Carlos had shown up. And, not wanting to continue on with an audience, he'd waited until she'd sent everyone to bed before he finished. It wasn't a complete narrative, his own feelings were so bruised at the moment that Logan could hardly get any words out coherently, but it was enough for Mrs. Knight to get the gist.

"Katie," Mrs. Knight tried again at the door. "I just want to talk to you. Please open the door. If you don't, I'll call Buddha Bob to come open it for me."

"No you won't," came Katie's muffled response.

"Yes, I will," Mrs. Knight answered.

"This late?" Katie asked, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Katie," Mrs. Knight repeated, knowing her bluff had been called. "Open the door."

"Just leave me alone."

Mrs. Knight threw her hands up in exasperation and began to pace the area in front of the kitchen counters.

"Can I try?" Logan asked, feeling more than a little to blame for this current situation. If he'd have acted in a more rational manner, Katie might not have been frightened off. He hadn't meant for that to happen.

"Okay," Mrs. Knight said after scrutinizing him for a moment and then taking a seat at the breakfast bar.

Logan let out a sigh as he approached the door, realizing at once that he didn't have any idea what he was going to say.

"Katie," he began after a lengthy pause, "I'd really like if we could talk about this."

"Then talk," she said, and even through the door he could hear her sniffle.

"Can you open the door?"

"No."

"All right then," Logan shrugged, sliding down to the floor and taking a seat with his back against the washing machine.

Logan hesitated, throwing a quick glance at Mrs. Knight, realizing how strange this whole situation had become.

"Well?" Katie called out from her side of the door.

"Okay," Logan began again, "I'm not going to talk about what you did. You said you were sorry and I know you meant it."

"So we're done here," Katie cut in. "Great talking with you. Goodnight."

"No," Logan returned.

"Oh, just go away."

"Hey," he fought back. "You locked yourself in there and now you're just going to have sit and listen to me."

When she didn't immediately answer, Logan thought he'd won a small victory. That is, until he heard the water turn on, effectively drowning out all other noises. Quick to his feet, Logan opened the utilities cabinet and found exactly what he was hoping to find.

"Hey!" she yelled when the lights went out.

"You turn off the water and I'll turn back on the lights," he replied, leaning in close to the door so she'd be certain to hear him.

"Fine," she huffed, doing as he'd asked.

"Let's try this again," Logan said as he turned her lights back on and sat back down on the floor.

"There's nothing to talk about," Katie said, sounding tired. "I acted like a brat and now you hate me."

"I don't hate you."

"But you're mad at me."

Logan considered it for a moment.

"Well?"

"I am mad," he admitted, "but I can be mad and still care about you. Right?"

Logan waited for her to answer for a full minute before deciding that one wasn't coming. He looked over to Mrs. Knight, silently beseeching her for help, but she only motioned for him to continue with an encouraging smile.

"Listen, all I wanted to say to you is that as far as I'm concerned, we don't have to talk about this again. You've already told me the truth and apologized, you don't have to do it again. You don't even have to tell me why you did it, unless you want to. I'm sorry if anything I said or did hurt your feelings. I'd never do that intentionally. If you want, we can go back to exactly the way it was before and I won't tell anyone about this. I promise."

"Except Kendall."

"I won't even tell Kendall," he assured her.

Katie paused, and Logan hoped she was at least considering what he had said.

"How are we supposed to just forget this if you're mad at me?" she finally asked.

"It's not going to be easy," he said, "but I'm going to do everything I can to not make it any harder. Your friendship is more important to me than my own hurt feelings."

When she didn't answer him again, Logan hoped he'd gotten his point across, but really knew there was nothing more to say about it.

"All right," he said as he got to his feet. "That's all I wanted to say so I'm going to go now. If you want to get out of the bathroom and maybe talk to your mom, I won't be here. And tomorrow morning we'll just start over like we'd agreed."

Logan waited another half a minute, hoping for a response.

"Goodnight, Katie," he said, when he realized he wouldn't be getting one.

Logan turned and walked out of the kitchen, where Mrs. Knight stopped him long enough to mouth 'thank you' before he continued off to bed.

* * *

"Get up!"

All four of them groaned, pulling sheets and blankets back over their heads in an effort to block out the light that had suddenly invaded their bedroom.

"I'm serious, guys, get up!"

"Kelly?" Kendall asked, sitting up groggily in bed and rubbing his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, not bothering to either sit up or open his eyes.

"The interview? Did you all forget? It's going to take at least two hours to get to Santa Barbra and none of you are even awake."

"I thought we weren't leaving until ten?" Logan asked.

"That's why I'm here now, to make sure you are all ready to go at ten."

"We're ready," Carlos said, still half asleep and yawning.

"No. You are really not. Now get moving."

Kelly left them to it, joining Mrs. Knight and Katie at the table with as much of a smile as she could manage. Half an hour later they were all there sitting down to breakfast as Kelly talked nervously about everything they were and were not supposed to do during their interview.

"Now, it's going to be over lunch, so there will be food," she said, flipping through her portfolio.

"Excellent," said Carlos, reaching for another piece of toast.

"You will all eat like normal human beings," Kelly emphasized. "No scarfing."

"Aw, but we love scarfing," James said with a pretend pout.

"The interviewer's name is Roberta Jenkins," Kelly continued as if James hadn't spoken. "She's supposed to be pretty tough, but I don't think she'll throw anything at you that you that hasn't been asked before. It should be a little less than an hour long. Questions?"

"I've got a question," Kendall said, looking around the table. "What happened last night?"

"Nothing," Mrs. Knight said, getting up from the table and beginning to clear dishes.

Katie paled a bit at the extra scrutiny, but didn't crack, and followed after her mother under the pretense of helping.

"What's going on?" Kelly asked, growing legitimately concerned at the tension she'd suddenly realized was in the room.

"Boys," Mrs. Knight said, coming out of the kitchen with Katie in tow. "Have fun at the interview. Katie and I are going to be out shopping today. We'll see you tonight for dinner."

"But..." Kendall started to call after them, but they were gone too quick. Unable to question them further, he turned to Logan.

"It's nothing," Logan said, getting to his own feet and taking his own plate to the sink.

"It didn't seem like nothing last night," Kendall said as he followed after him.

Kendall stood and glared at Logan from across the sink, but without having any effect. Three pairs of eyes were trained on them from the table, which only served to further Logan's silence. He'd taken it as a good sign Katie hadn't fled the room when he'd entered it this morning. He wasn't about to tell Kendall, or anyone else, anything that might get back to her or cause her any further pain and humiliation.

"Drop it," Logan said quietly, praying that Kendall would.

Kendall relented and took a few steps back. He was irritated that something had obviously happened to his sister and that no one would tell him what. He trusted Logan enough that, if Kendall really needed to know, he would tell him, but the thought that he hadn't still gnawed at him.

"So we're all good now?" Kelly asked tentatively, hoping that was the case.

"Yeah," Kendall said, trying to smile as he went back to the table, but it was mostly defeat talking.

"I'm good," Carlos put in.

Kelly was just starting to feel relieved, when she realized that neither James nor Logan had answered. And that they were also staring daggers at one another.

"We'll sort this out in the car," Kelly said, getting up and ushering the guys towards the front door. "It will be here soon and if we're going to get there in time, we need to go."

Kelly fell back a few steps behind the guys, and as luck would have it, so did Kendall.

"Do you know what's going on with them?" she whispered.

"They're fighting over a girl," he answered, and for a minute she thought he was pulling her leg, or making a joke at hers and Carlos' expense; Kelly remembered too vividly where that mistaken belief had led.

James must have heard his remark because he turned his head and gave Kendall a dirty look, which only further embarrassed Kelly for reasons she couldn't even explain to herself. She was now certain that all the guys knew what had happened and it had become some sort of inside joke. And Kelly hated inside jokes. Especially ones she wasn't on the inside of.

The wait in the lobby was painful, but getting into the car proved worse. They spent five minutes outside of the limo, trying to work out the best seating arrangements, everyone shuffling around and no one willing to compromise. Kelly finally climbed in first herself, and left it to them to sort out the rest. Logan gave in next, sliding into the seat beside her. Neither Kendall nor James wanted to sit next to Logan, so Carlos fell in behind him, leaving the other two to sit opposite in the seat facing the rest.

"All right," Kelly said, taking a deep breath and momentarily shutting her eyes when they finally got moving. "Logan, we've got to do something about your eye. I've got two pairs of glasses with tinted lenses. Try these," she said, handing over the first pair.

Kelly scrutinized him for a moment then shook her head and handing him the second pair.

"Better," she said, putting the first pair back into her bag. "Now, if your asked..."

"I'm not going to lie," Logan said quickly.

"Okay, then tell the truth the way you'd want your parents to hear it, or your grandparents," Kelly advised. "Give the G rated version."

The thought that Logan had anything other than a G rated version of events caused James to snort back a laugh. He wasn't alone, because even Kendall and Carlos had cracked a smile, but Logan turned to James, clearly not amused.

But if Logan had been about to say something, he held his tongue, and instead turned his eyes up and stared at the ceiling of the limo for a few minutes, before exhaling and appearing near normal.

"Guys," Kelly said, shifting in her seat and doing her best to see them all from her vantage, "you can not do this right now. This interview may not be huge, but it's going to be read. This reporter will take one look at you, smell blood and pounce. And honestly, you can't afford the negative publicity. Not right now."

Kendall nodded in agreement with Kelly, immediately willing to set aside whatever differences he might be having temporarily until they could get this thing done. Carlos was also nodding, but didn't know what else he could do to be in a better state of mind. Logan and James were still the obvious hold outs, but as James had always wanted this career more than the rest of them combined, he was the first to relent.

"Logan, I..."

"You were all over my girlfriend!"

"She's not your girlfriend," James fired back at him, picking the exact wrong thing to say.

"Oh, no," Kendall sighed, dropping his head back against the seat cushion.

"Dude," Carlos said in a low voice, looking at James with something like shock in his eyes.

Logan had gone almost white with fury, but said nothing. He couldn't contradict it, because it was true. And he couldn't tell them all exactly why his relationship with Camille and fallen apart, because that would bring Katie back into it. All he could do was shut his eyes and count to ten.

"That's not..." James stammered. "That's not what I meant to say. I meant..."

"Shut up," Kendall said quietly and sincerely.

It wasn't until he'd felt Kelly put her hand on his shoulder that Logan realized his eyes were still shut.

"I'm trying to explain," James said, looking to everyone for support.

Logan started to speak, but Kelly dug her nails in to cut him off.

"Logan," she said, her own voice as tense as he felt. "Give him a chance."

"Fine," he said, opening his eyes and leaning back against the seat with his arms folded.

"Okay," James said. "Well, it's like I told Kendall and Carlos..."

"And not me?" Logan interjected, loudly.

"I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen."

"You can have your say next," Kelly said to Logan, before motioning for James to continue.

"I was heading upstairs and saw Camille. I wasn't going to stop and talk to her at all, but she kind of tried to pick a fight with me. And then we starting arguing about you and the next thing I know she's crying. I didn't want her to cry and I felt really sorry for her so... that was it. I was just trying to be nice. Nothing more."

Carlos, Kendall and Kelly, who had all been watching James intently while he spoke, turned at once to Logan.

"Okay," Logan said shortly.

He pressed his eyes shut briefly and nodded. Realizing, at last, that he was the one that had blown this thing out of proportion. James might give him a hard time, but he'd never been anything less than loyal. Logan had been so confused and upset at the time that he hadn't wanted to consider the truth.

"So, you believe me?" James asked, still not able to read Logan's face.

"Yeah," he answered, trying to smile, but almost too embarrassed to manage it. "I'm sorry for how I acted. It was really stupid of me and I wasn't thinking. I should have trusted when you said... but after everything that had happened, I -"

Logan stopped short, realizing he'd almost spilled the beans about Katie. It had been one of the reasons he'd reacted the way he did, but it wasn't an excuse. And it really didn't need to be mentioned.

James smiled back, a bit weakly, but relaxed in his seat and seemed willing to drop it. For a few minutes there was a comfortable silence in the car, until Kendall couldn't contain himself a moment longer.

"I have to know what happened last night."

And then, to Kelly's dismay, everyone seemed to be fighting. Again.

Not much later, Kelly sat three tables away while the interview took place, preparing for the worst.

Food fight? Probably.

Fist fight? Could happen.

One of the guys randomly getting up and quitting altogether? Why not.

She had a good view of the table but the restaurant, a trendy cafe that catered to office workers in their twenties, was full, so she couldn't hear anything that was actually being said. Kelly had only stayed with them long enough to introduce them to Roberta Jenkins and then she'd backed away.

It hadn't started well, Kelly could tell. Bobbie must have said something about the glasses to Logan, whose reply was shorter than she'd expected. It wasn't until a few minutes later, when Carlos's voice had carried just enough for Kelly to hear the end of one of his jokes, that the whole table laughed and she stopped worrying.

It was going to be fine.


	18. Chapter 18

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **Two more chapters to go! Thanks for reading! Thanks a bunch for reviewing! Thanks to Tripp3235 for putting up with me! Enjoy!

**Chapter 18**

"All right guys," Kelly said as they stood out in front of the Palms, having just been dropped off, "good job. Not that you made that easy."

"Without us, your job would be boring," James said with a smile.

"Sure," she said, her mouth pressed thin as they all laughed.

Logan checked his watch, and then looked anxiously down the street towards the mall that was a few blocks away.

"Got somewhere to be?" Kendall asked.

"I've got go buy a phone," Logan sighed, having just remembered. "My mom is probably already trying to call me, you know, making sure I just didn't withdraw the money and run for it."

"You've got plenty of time before dinner," Kendall said. "I'll go with you."

"Cool," Logan said with a nod, and then the two of them said goodbye to the others before walking down the street together.

"I've got an appointment with that pretty blond that moved in last week," James said with a wink. "See you later."

"Bye," Kelly and Carlos said at the same time, then turned to one another without making eye contact.

"I don't really have anywhere to be," Carlos said, rocking back on his heels. "But you probably do, so... I'll go."

"Hey," Kelly called out just before he'd reached the door. "You saved this thing today. Thanks."

"No," he immediately dismissed.

"You did," she said, taking a step forward and then she seemed to recollect herself and stopped. "It was bombing, I could tell. You broke the ice. If you hadn't..."

"I'm good for a few things," he said with a smile, honestly pleased with himself.

Kelly smiled back at him, but said nothing more.

"Have a good weekend, Kelly," Carlos said, feeling that to linger too long might cause him to momentarily lose his mind again and do something foolish.

"You too."

Carlos waved and then pushed open the door to the Palm Woods, getting only a few steps before James stepped out of nowhere and slapped him on the back.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" he asked with a goofy smile on his face.

"Nothing is going on," Carlos answered truthfully. He'd already told James most of what had happened. Sure, he'd glossed over the more embarrassing parts, but who wouldn't do that? "It's like I said, I'm just being stupid about this. She's... she's too much older..."

James waved a hand dismissively at him as they continued to walk through the lobby.

"In five years, it won't matter."

"Yeah," Carlos said with a sarcastic laugh. "Sure. I'll hold my breath."

They stopped at the patio, continuing their conversation without regard to their surroundings.

"You never know," James said.

"You know, if you were really a good friend, you'd change the subject."

"Well, I did offer to find you a girlfriend last night..."

"I don't want to start dating someone just so I'll stop thinking about Kelly. That's not right."

"Well, what are you going to do?" James asked, no longer joking.

"Whatever I have to do," Carlos answered, thinking about the conversation he'd had with Kelly about the matter. "I can't avoid her, and you know, I wouldn't want to. She's still my friend. I'm just going to have to keep reminding myself where the line is and try not to cross it again."

"You might want to stop making puppy eyes at her then," James said, taking a seat at an empty table.

"I thought you were helping me."

"This is me helping you," James said, completely serious. "It's becoming obvious."

"Obvious?" Carlos repeated, sitting down now himself and looking a little horrified.

"Not really obvious," James corrected. "But, once you know, it's pretty easy to see."

"You mean it's pretty easy to see how ridiculous it is?" Carlos asked, and without really meaning to, James laughed. "That it would never happen in a million years?"

Luckily, Carlos laughed too, saving James the need to reply.

"It is ridiculous," Carlos continued, feeling better and always the most comfortable when laughing at his problems. "Well, the age difference is ridiculous, but..."

"He promised he wouldn't tell!"

Carlos and James both looked up to see Katie's shocked face staring at them from the other side of the table. She'd only just caught the last few seconds of their conversation, but had heard enough to assume the worst. It was exactly what she had been afraid would happen. Everyone knew and it was nothing but a joke.

"Katie," Carlos started first, half rising in his chair. "What are you talking about?"

"Told us what?" James asked, as bewildered as Carlos was by Katie's strange reaction.

Katie's eyes darted from one boy to the next and silent with rage, she stood gapping for a moment before turning and making a hasty retreat.

"Katie," Carlos called after her, genuinely concerned, but she was already gone.

* * *

"Which do you think?" Logan asked, trying to decide between the two phones in front of him.

"It's your phone," Kendall answered with a laugh. "Pick one already."

"I know," he said, literally bouncing on his feet, "but I can't just rush this."

"We've been staring at these phones for half an hour. No one is accusing you of rushing anything."

"The one on the right has more memory," Logan continued, not paying Kendall remark any attention, "but this one has better picture quality."

"Okay, so you can either take a lot of crappy pictures or a few good ones," Kendall simplified for him.

"I didn't think of it like that."

"So, are you decided?"

"Wait," Logan began again, but Kendall quickly cut him off.

"The one on the left. Buy the one on the left."

"Are you sure?"

"Logan."

"Okay, okay," Logan said quickly, picking up the phone and moving toward the register. "If you didn't want to come..."

"If I hadn't have come, you'd be here until they kicked you out, trying to make up your mind."

"I'd have made up my mind."

"Eventually," Kendall added, under his breath as Logan paid for it with his debit card. His parents kept an account open for him for emergencies, or the occasional accident, and transferred money into it as needed.

Kendall used to find himself envying the fact that Logan's parents could afford to buy him anything he wanted, but now he knew better. His own family wasn't poor, but money was often tight with two kids and only one parent. Logan, an only child with both his parents still at home, really only had to ask once, sometimes twice for something, and he got it.

Anyone else might have been spoiled by that kind of parenting, but not Logan. They only thing he'd ever wanted from them was their attention, and that seemed to be the one thing they could not afford. It was painful to watch how hard he tried sometimes to just be perfect on the oft chance they'd take notice, but it was never enough. Kendall honestly believed that getting Logan out of that house had been the best thing that could have happened to him, even if Logan didn't realize that himself. Of course, this was something they never really talked about. They might joke about how bad their families were, but they didn't talk about the reality of it.

"So, back to the Palms?" Logan asked, sounding as if he dreaded it.

"Where else is there to go?"

Logan shrugged.

"Come on," Kendall said, urging him on. "On the way back, you can tell me what happened last night."

"That's why you came, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"So that I would tell you everything?"

"Yes," Kendall nodded.

"Not going to happen."

"Why not?" Kendall asked. "I deserve to know. You're my best friend and I tell you everything."

"Like how James said that I only liked Camille because she said she liked me first?"

"You know about that?"

Logan laughed, shaking his head.

"Okay," Kendall said, brushing it off. "That's the one thing I didn't tell you. And, I didn't, because it was stupid and not worth repeating."

"Doesn't matter," Logan said. "I'm still not telling you."

"Really? Because if this is serious..."

"It's not," Logan cut in quickly. "Not... not really."

"Then why are you being so stubborn about it?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't say anything," Logan answered seriously. "And I'm not going to break my promise."

"Fine," Kendall said, giving up for the time being.

For a few minutes they walked on in silence before Kendall tried a new topic.

"So, this thing with Camille..."

"Let's not talk about that either," Logan said, dropping his head back with a groan.

"I was just going to say that Jo really has her facts messed up," Kendall continued.

"Yeah, well, I think some things got misunderstood," Logan said, it was as close to the truth as he dared to get.

"How could that happen? You did write a letter, didn't you?"

Logan nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak for a few seconds while he thought up an answer. He really didn't want to talk about this, because he knew if he did he would accidentally end up breaking his promise to Katie.

"I don't know," Logan said, unable to come up with anything reasonable.

"Well, if it's a misunderstanding, aren't you going to try and clear it up?"

"I don't know that either."

"This isn't about that thing with James, is it?" Kendall asked as they continued down the street. "You know that he was telling you the truth, right?"

"Right," Logan echoed. "I'm still just... I don't know. After how I reacted, I doubt she'd want me back, even if I ever managed to explain it all. Maybe it's just better if I let it go."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm just..." Logan looked out over the street, waiting for the right word to come. "I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting and of feeling anxious and confused, and just absolutely sick over the whole thing. I'm tired of feeling jealous. At least after I'd freaked out about James, I'd thought it was over. I'd like actually worked it into my head that it was done... but it's not. It's never done."

"If you want it to be done with, just let it be done with," Kendall said after thinking it over for a minute. "You've broken up. Whatever happened, happened; let it go. No one's going to make you go back and try again."

"Yeah, but..." Logan sighed. "Okay, I know Camille is a bit... melodramatic."

"That's a way of putting it."

"And there have been times when I've wondered if she might not need counseling."

"Yes," Kendall agreed.

"But the thing is... I still miss her. Just being around her. And right now, I'm not even sure we can be friends again and it kind of hurts. A lot."

Kendall scrutinized Logan for a long moment. Then, breaking into a smile and clapping his hands together he said, "Then we're going to fix this."


	19. Chapter 19

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Chapter 19**

Jo had tried to persuade Camille to hear her out the night before, but without luck. Instead she had to wait till Saturday afternoon to tell her the full story. It wasn't like she was really looking forward to this conversation, but Jo knew the sooner they cleared this whole mess up, the better.

As she'd expected, telling Camille hadn't been easy. At first she flat out refused to believe it. Then she'd been angry, confused, hurt and indignant before landing back on angry again.

When Jo finally was able to get a word in, and explain why Katie had acted the way she had, Camille softened a bit. Jo had assumed that Camille of all people would understand anyone being in love enough with Logan to do something crazy, and she wasn't disappointed in that belief.

"Does Logan know?" she asked once she was reasonably in control of her emotions.

"I'm pretty sure he does," Jo answered. "Katie was supposed to tell him last night."

"And that's why she was upset and he was chasing after her," Camille added, that little mystery finally solved.

"Hold on," Jo said as her phone chirped, making her aware that she'd just received a text.

"But that still doesn't explain why he thought I'd go so far to get even with him that I'd make-out with one of his best friends."

Jo held up a hand, indicating she'd be another minute, as she typed out a quick reply.

"He had to have known by then that I didn't even get his letter so..."

"Okay," Jo interrupted, before this turned into a rant. "You know how you're feeling right now that I've told you the truth?"

"Yeah."

"Imagine Katie telling you instead of me and then walking into Logan with his arms around.. I don't know... Stephanie."

"I don't want to imagine that."

"All right, but that is like exactly what happened last night to Logan, so maybe..."

"Okay, okay," Camille sighed, seeing her point. "I can cut him some slack for that. I guess. If he apologizes."

"For what?" Jo asked with a laugh of surprise.

"For all but accusing me of... I don't know what... but it wasn't fair. I mean, James is cute, but come on? I'm not heartless."

"No, you'd rather hire strangers to make your ex jealous."

"Exactly, strangers," Camille said as if Jo had agreed with her.

Jo shook her head and responded to another text while Camille looked on impatiently.

"Can you stop texting your boyfriend for like five minutes. I'm having a personal crisis."

"Sorry," Jo said, putting her phone away. "How did you know it was Kendall?"

"Because you're smiling."

Jo held back a laugh and tried to fight back the blush that had crept up on her.

"My problems? Remember?" Camille asked.

"Your problems will be fixed as soon as you and Logan sit down and talk."

"I'm not so sure."

"Well, come on," Jo said, dragging her by the hand and out of the lobby.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to talk to Logan."

"No, no, no," Camille said, digging in her heals and coming to a dead stop. "I can't. What am I supposed to say? I at least need to time to think..."

"No," Jo protested. "Both of you need to stop thinking about this and do something."

"All right," Camille said, pulling free and exhaling a breath with her eyes momentarily shut. "When?"

"Kendall said to meet them in fifteen minutes."

"Where?" Camille asked.

"At that little restaurant down the street."

"Fine," Camille sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Kendall and Logan were already waiting for them, only Logan didn't know it. Kendall had convinced him to stop so they could get a quick bite to eat, but was now having a hard time getting him to stay.

"Aren't you done yet?" Logan asked, marveling at how long it was taking him to finish.

"Relax. Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"No," Logan admitted. "I just want to go home."

"And sulk?"

"Maybe," Logan said defensively. "Doesn't matter."

"It does," Kendall said. "I told you. We're going to fix this."

"Yes, well, how? We've talked about it and it's... it's not possible so..."

"Hey," Kendall said with an overly enthusiastic smile. "Look who's here."

Logan turned his head to see who Kendall was talking about before whipping back around and glaring at his friend.

"This is not cool," he said under his breath.

"You said you wanted to sort this out."

"No I didn't. I said I didn't know what I wanted."

"And you never do, so I've decided for you," Kendall finished with a smile, turning to Jo and Camille who had just arrived at their table.

"Hi, Jo," Kendall said, still over selling it. "Hi, Camille. Care to join us?"

"Sure," Jo said, smiling a bit too energetically to be convincing.

Camille said nothing, just pursed her lips and, for a moment, Logan thought she was going to dive for the other side of the table and sit next to Kendall, but Jo was too quick for her and she was forced to sit down next to him instead. They couldn't even look at one another. Logan sat glowering at Kendall, while Camille fidgeting nervously at his side, sending imploring looks in Jo's direction.

"All right," Kendall said, looking from Logan to Camille, before suddenly turning to Jo. "We've got to go. You two have fun," Kendall said as both he and Jo got up out of their seats in record time. "We'll see you later. Bye."

Neither Logan nor Camille had any time to protest, they were gone that fast.

"He didn't tell you I was coming," Camille said as she got up and slid into the seat opposite Logan's.

"No."

"Sorry," Camille said briefly. "I didn't plan this ambush. Jo just told me..."

"No, don't," Logan interrupted. "This is completely Kendall's doing. I can tell."

"Yeah, well, Jo's not much better. She thinks we should talk about this and..." Camille trailed off, having no idea how to finish that sentence.

"Yes, well, we probably should," Logan sighed. This was the part he'd been dreading. "I have to tell you some things that might make you pretty mad. And, however you take it, whatever you might think, please don't tell anyone else. I'm breaking a promise telling you and it really can't go any further."

"Is this about Katie or..."

"You know about that?" Logan asked, his stomach dropping inexplicably as he met her eyes for the first time, before quickly looking away.

"Jo told me."

"How does Jo know?"

"You didn't know Jo knew?" Camille asked, again wondering how much more confusing this whole thing could get.

"Forget about Jo," Logan said, waving the whole matter off. "So she told you everything that Katie did?"

"I guess," Camille answered. "Is there more?"

Logan looked down at his hands and felt himself blush.

"Not really, except..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about last night and kind of losing it when I saw you with James."

"Thanks," Camille said softly, smiling for the first time. "And, I'm sorry about Erik. And making you go to that stupid party in the first place. You were right."

"Who's Erik?" Logan asked immediately, ignoring the rest.

"That guy who wasn't my boyfriend," Camille answered, still embarrassed.

"Oh," he said with a nod. "Well, I shouldn't have gotten mad about him either, I guess. I'm not your boyfriend so I can't... I didn't want us to break up. That was my message to you, basically. I know I wasn't the best boyfriend in the world..."

"You did all right," Camille said with a smile.

"Thanks," Logan laughed, "but I tried. And... and, if we could..."

Logan stopped talking. He'd been looking down at the table, too ashamed to meet her eyes, when she'd reached out and put her hand over his. Without thinking, he took hold of it and squeezed it gently, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

"Do you want to be my boyfriend again?" she asked coyly, pressing her foot against his underneath the table.

Logan paused to consider it. It was easier to be indecisive. It would probably be easier to just say no. But when he looked at her he knew what he wanted, but he still didn't know how to say it.

"What about your dad?"

"We'll worry about him later," Camille said smiling brighter, so that there was really nothing more Logan could say about it.

And so he kissed her.

"We do good work," Kendall said, putting an arm around Jo, from where they stood watching across the street.

"We really do," Jo agreed, smiling up at him.

"So," Kendall said, turning with her and taking her hand as they began to walk slowly back to the Palms. "What should we do next? What wrong should we right?"

"I think one's enough for the night. I'm not sure we should press our luck. I'm kind of surprised by this one, given how mad Camille was about what Katie had done. I mean, she knew it wasn't Logan's fault and she understood why Katie did it, but it didn't exactly make her very forgiving."

"Katie?" Kendall said, coming to a complete stop.

"That whole fake message," Jo rattled off. "You know, her purposely breaking... Oh my gosh, you don't know!"

It had been the look on his face that had finally woken her to the truth. Kendall looked furious and nauseous all at once.

"No, I don't."

"I thought Logan would have told you," Jo said, her whole face going red. "I thought that was why you set this up."

"No, he didn't tell me anything. He said he'd promised... "

Kendall broke off, completely unable to process any more of the conversation.

"I shouldn't have said anything," Jo muttered, looking miserable.

"So, Katie did this?" Kendall asked.

Jo, unable to avoid it now, nodded in the affirmative.

"Why? Why did she do this?"

"I really can't say," Jo tried.

"Can't or won't."

"Both," Jo decided on, before following after Kendall as he sped his way back up the street to the restaurant.


	20. Chapter 20

**Title: And So It Goes  
****Author: SLynn  
****Rating: T  
****Pairings: **Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Disclaimer: **Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.

**Summary: **Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.

**Notes: **This is it! Thanks again for everyone reading, reviewing, ranting, raving... whatever! Thank you, Tripp3235! You do awesome work! I'm six chapters into the follow-up story, 'With A Little Help', which will hopefully start going up sometime next week, so look for that soon. Thanks again and enjoy!

**Chapter 20**

Carlos was on his second walk through the park when he spotted Kendall, Logan, Camille and Jo walking up the street. He ran over to them immediately, looking frantic enough for Kendall and Logan to stop mid-argument and turn to him in surprise. They'd been fighting since they'd left the restaurant. Kendall was irate that Logan hadn't told him the truth, but Logan was insistent that, as it hadn't involved Kendall in the slightest, he didn't need to tell him.

"Have you seen Katie?" Carlos asked, half out of breath.

"No," Logan answered.

"Why? What's going on?" Kendall asked, already worried by the look on Carlos's face.

"We can't find her," Carlos gasped. "James and I were talking and she kind of overheard us and... I don't know, she flipped out and took off. We've been looking everywhere and..."

"Does my mom know?" Kendall interrupted.

"Yeah," Carlos answered with a quick nod. "Bitters is keeping an eye out for her in the lobby and your mom is driving around the neighborhood. I've been all over this place without any luck and James is checking inside the building."

"Why didn't anyone call me?" Kendall asked, his anger at Logan shifting to Carlos in the blink of an eye.

"What can we do?" Logan asked at the same time.

"Your mom didn't want you freaked out," Carlos answered. "And, she still thinks she's around her somewhere, so we should just keep looking. She said Katie wouldn't go far..."

"We'll go check the ladies rooms and anywhere else you guys can't get in," Jo offered, taking Camille by the hand as the two of them ran off towards the Palms.

"Did she call the police?" Logan asked as he and Kendall began walking around the part of the park Carlos hadn't rechecked.

"No," Carlos answered. "It hasn't been that long but..."

"I'm going back to the Palms," Kendall said, shaking his head and looking paler than usual. "I'll help James... or something."

Carlos and Logan let him go, knowing there was nothing they could say that would either make him feel any better or stop him at this point.

While Kendall was racing back, James was steadily making his way from floor to floor with very little luck. It wasn't until he'd reached the top floor that he began to grow desperate. He almost turned back without looking, seeing as the entire floor was being remodeled, but then realized that if Katie was just hiding out somewhere, this would be the ideal spot.

It wasn't until he tried the door on the sixth apartment that his luck finally changed, and it pushed easily open.

"Katie?" he called out.

When there was no reply, he stood very still, and waited just in case, and then he heard it. A sniff, just audible, coming from what would be the master bedroom of an apartment very similar in layout to their own.

"Katie," he tried again after sending Carlos a quick text to let him know he'd found her and to pass the message on.

"Why won't anyone just leave me alone?" she asked, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling in relief.

"Do you know that like half the building is looking for you?" James asked as he stepped into the room and looked down at where she sat.

"Why?" she said, shocked and annoyed.

"We were worried," James said defensively. He was now realizing that perhaps they'd overreacted.

"What? Did you think I was such a baby that I can't even be alone for an hour?" she asked, getting to her feet and rubbing her eyes roughly.

James was starting to feel ashamed of his reaction, and even of his own initial panic, and could not reply to her accusation.

"Let's just go then," Katie said, shaking her head in an effort to stop her tears from falling. "I've got nothing else to lose."

"We were worried," James repeated feebly.

"Would you be this worried if I was Kendall?"

"That's not fair," James fired back at her, his anger beginning to match her own. "You're not Kendall. You're not as old as he is. You're still just a little girl."

"Oh, and I know it," Katie said viciously, as James had seemingly hit again on the exact wrong thing to say. "You and Carlos were having a good laugh about how I'm just a stupid little girl. I know he told you and I hate him. I hate him for letting you laugh at me and... and..."

Katie had dissolved into tears again as James stood by dumbstruck.

"Katie, we weren't talking about you. I don't... I don't have any idea what..."

"Don't lie for him," she interrupted harshly. "You all stick up for each other and he probably told you the minute he went back to your room."

James looked around hopelessly for some kind of help. He had little experience in this kind of situation, Camille had been the first girl he'd ever seen crying for real. He doubted if anyone could know exactly the right thing to do, but soon realized he couldn't let not knowing stop him. So, taking the few remaining steps between himself and her, James drew her into an awkward hug and was surprised when she didn't pull away; she only continued to cry harder for the next several minutes.

"Why are boys so awful?" she asked, after her sobs had petered out and she'd taken a few shaky breaths.

"Because we can't help it," he answered uncertainly, but at least she'd laughed.

Katie sniffed again and dried her eyes on the hem of James shirt, which he tried to ignore since it was one of his favorites.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No," she said quickly.

"Should I just guess at the problem and..."

"You really don't know?" she asked, looking up at him quizzically.

"I don't," he said, but he thought that he had a very good idea. He wasn't stupid.

"So, what were you talking about if..."

"Between you and me?" James asked, waiting for Katie to nod before he continued. "We were talking about Carlos and Kelly."

"Why was he laughing then?" Katie asked, still hesitant to believe what James was saying and having a hard time picturing herself laughing in Carlos's position.

"Because that's what he does," James answered easily. "Sometimes it's all you can do, right?"

"I guess," Katie said softly, lowering her head as if she was thinking things over.

"He's a lot better at then I am," James admitted. "When I'm embarrassed or hurt, I just get mad. Or mean. Sometimes both."

"Me too."

"Talking can help," James suggested, but the look Katie threw at him made him quickly change tunes. "Or not. That's cool, too. I'm just saying that if you wanted to talk to me, you could."

"We should probably get home before my mom calls the National Guard," Katie said, her eyes still red, but there were no more tears in her eyes.

"Too late," James said with a laugh, happy to hear her return it.

On their way down, James checked his phone again and let Katie know that everyone was on their way back to the apartment now, so that she'd at least be a little prepared for the onslaught of questions.

But when they arrived it was only her mom and Kendall, both of them looking identical in their anger and relief. James slid off to stand beside the couches, and occupied himself by looking out the window, waiting for Carlos and Logan who would hopefully arrive soon.

Mrs. Knight was angry, but not unreasonably so. She gave Katie a brief lecture on running off without telling anyone where she was going and grounded her for a week. Katie didn't fight with her, knowing she'd earned her punishment for having caused her mom so much undue stress. Kendall didn't say anything, but when his mom had finished, he hugged his sister and whispered something in her ear that James didn't even try to overhear.

James was starting to feel like he was intruding on a family matter when Mrs. Knight came over and kissed the top of his head, thanking him for his help.

Kendall came over next and took a seat, looking relieved and tried to talk about something normal.

Katie slumped in just beside Kendall and joined James in staring out the window and out at the patio.

Kendall soon turned and looked and spotted what they both were watching fairly quickly. Carlos, Jo, Logan and Camille were all huddled at a table near the pool, each looking pensive and obviously having an intense discussion. Kendall caught sight of Logan and Camille's interlocked hands underneath the table just as James did.

"So they're back together again, I see," James said.

"Yeah," Kendall said, with a quick look at Katie before he could stop himself. "Turns out it was all some kind of misunderstanding. No harm done."

"Kind of figured," James said, looking down at his own hands and then feeling someone watching him, looked up again quickly with a smile. "I mean, he'd be stupid not to beg her to come back. She's the only girl in L.A. that wants him."

"Harsh," Kendall said with a chuckle as he got to his feet.

Katie looked at him knowingly, and he laughed, because sometimes it's all you can do.

In a few days time, things were almost back to normal. Katie couldn't hide forever, and as the guys had all seemed to ease quietly back into their normal routines, she hadn't needed to. She was relieved that no one brought up or teased her about what had happened, although she realized that if they had she'd of brought it upon herself, which somehow made it different and more bearable.

Katie was also happy with the thought that Logan hadn't betrayed his promise not to tell the others, but it wasn't the sort of happiness she was used to feeling. If anything it made her feel a kind of loneliness she couldn't put her finger on exactly. Katie realized she'd set Logan up in her mind as some kind of perfect and he was unfortunately doing nothing to change her mind. She couldn't squash the feelings she still felt deep down inside of her, but Katie was learning to regulate them. There was nothing else to do.

The best thing to come of it all was also the most surprising. Jo had starting coming over, not to hang out with Kendall so much, but to do things with Katie. It was almost like having a sister. And, if on occasion, Camille came along, Katie was okay with that, but only on occasion. She couldn't like Camille, no matter how hard she tried, but Katie had decided not to actively hate her as she'd begun to do before.

The fact that Logan and Camille were officially back together took some getting used to for Katie, and she imagined she wasn't alone in that. Katie still found the idea of 'them' revolting, but at least they were discrete. Logan had apparently gone and talked to Camille's parents and explained or apologized for everything well enough that they'd once more given him permission to date their daughter. But, what Katie was giving them credit for, as far as being discrete went, was actually Logan's attempt at taking a measured step back.

After several days of real serious thought on the matter, Logan had realized that he couldn't keep doing everything he was doing, at the same pace, without cracking under the pressure. He'd never complained about it, because he did have real aspirations about becoming a doctor, but his school work was easily twice as much as everyone else's because of the classes he took. And nothing about singing or dancing, and especially singing and dancing at the same time, came naturally to him, so another huge portion of his time went into that.

The time left, Logan found, could not be easily split between having a serious girlfriend and everything else that went into having a life. It wasn't that he didn't want to be her boyfriend, he just couldn't afford the next misunderstanding they were certain to have, so completely wreck him like this past one did. Logan still wanted to see Camille, very much so, but heartache had made him cautious. And Logan saw, that was also part of his problem. He was afraid of being hurt again and he needed to talk about it to someone.

After a week of debating who was the best person to approach and discuss any of this with, Logan finally just went with his instinct. He needed reassurance and he needed advice. Normally, that sort of thing would fall to Mrs. Knight, the idea of approaching his own mother was laughable, but Logan felt strange at the thought of discussing this with her given everything that had happened with Katie. So, naturally, there was only one other woman he could talk to.

"Got a minute?" he asked, peeking into Kelly's office not ten minutes after they'd all supposedly left for the day.

Kelly, on the phone, motioned for him to take a seat across from her desk, and as she finished her call, Logan had time to rethink this rather rash plan. But, before he could back out, she was off the phone and looking at him expectantly.

"What's going on?"

"Okay, well," Logan stammered, stopping short and getting up to pull the door nearly closed before continuing on. "I need to talk to you. It's, um... it's about a girl."

"Logan," Kelly said, her voice icy and her gaze hard, "this isn't funny."

"No," he said quickly, realizing she thought he was joking with her about Carlos. Carlos had done everything he could to not make his feelings obvious to anyone, but seeing as all of them knew, it wasn't much good. "No, this is about Camille. I swear. I wouldn't... I'd never laugh or..."

"Of course," Kelly said, visibly relaxing. As hard as Carlos was trying to make things appear normal between them, Kelly was trying four times as hard. She really wanted them to all be okay again. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure anything is really wrong," he admitted. "I'm just... okay, Camille and I had this fight and it was stupid, but it's over. And, before it happened I knew I'd liked her. Then, when we broke up, it was like..."

"You didn't realize how happy you'd been?" Kelly offered.

"Yeah," Logan said with a nod. "Exactly. I didn't. So, when we got back together I kind of thought it would be different. That, I don't know, that..."

"You're not happy now?"

"I'm terrified," he admitted with a nervous laugh. "I keep thinking that something is going to happen, either I'll do something and she'll hate me or she'll just decide I'm not what she wants and then it'll be over again and... and... I don't know what I'll do. It hurt so much the first time, I don't think I can do it again. You know, I've never felt this way about anyone and I guess what I wanted to ask you was, is this normal? Is this really what... what..."

"What love is like?" she asked for him.

Logan nodded, looking relieved that she'd managed to get his point without him having to come out and say it.

"Sometimes," Kelly said with half a shrug.

"Sometimes?"

"It's different for everyone. There's no definition," Kelly explained.

"That's it?"

"Well," Kelly said, hesitating a bit before continuing on. "Logan, do you trust her? I mean, this isn't about you worried she's going to take off with some other guy while your back is turned, is it?"

"No," he said after thinking it over. "It's not that. I guess it's more that I don't trust circumstance. That a million different things could happen and..."

"Okay," she interrupted, breathing easier. "I get it now."

"You do?"

"Yes," she answered. "And, do you want the truth?"

"Of course."

"Okay, but you're not going to like it."

"I don't care," Logan said. "Just tell me."

"All right," she sighed. "The truth is that you're right."

"What?"

"You're right. There are a million little things that could happen to end your relationship with Camille."

"Is this some kind of joke or..."

"No, just the truth."

"You know I came here to feel better about this, right? For advice?"

"Do you want me to make you feel better or do you want the truth?"

Logan bit back his reply and sat waiting for Kelly to continue.

"The truth is that sometimes, no matter what you do or how much you love someone, it doesn't work out," Kelly said evenly. "Sometimes you see it coming; sometimes you're blindsided. That's the risk of putting yourself out there. Of trusting and caring for someone else. You can end up disappointed and hurt or you can find someone really special. It's all a gamble."

Kelly smiled at him tightly and Logan was left with the distinct impression that Kelly wasn't the gambling kind.

"You have to ask yourself if it is worth it," she went on. "And, if it is, then you have to stop worrying, because there's nothing worry ever did for anyone. It's like swimming against the current. You either let go and hope for the best and enjoy the ride while it lasts or struggle and fight it until you just run out of energy and drown. That's how it goes."

Logan nodded, taking in her words and feeling, if not better, than at least decided.

"Thanks, Kelly."

"Any time," she said, waving as he picked up his bag to go.

Right outside the door Logan was surprised to find Carlos waiting for him with his face set like stone. For a few minutes they didn't speak to one another. Carlos simply turned with Logan and walked down the hallway, both of them too absorbed in their own thoughts for much conversation.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," Carlos said once they'd reached the street, blinking up into the harsh daylight and shading his eyes.

"I know," Logan said.

"So?" Carlos asked as they waited at the bus stop. "You and Camille? Do you know..."

"I'm letting go," Logan answered. "It's time I stopped worrying and just let what's going to happen, happen. I'm just going to go with the flow."

Carlos laughed. It was such an odd thing to hear coming out of Logan's mouth.

"I mean it," Logan said seriously. "I'm not saying I wouldn't fight for her. I would. I just can't keep fighting nothing."

Carlos caught his meaning and nodded solemnly.

"What about you?"

"Me?" Carlos asked, like the question was ridiculous.

Logan stared, not letting it go. Carlos had been listening in on a private conversation, intentional or not, and Logan felt he owed him one.

"Drowning," Carlos said after a lengthy pause. "Hopeless. Helpless. What else can I do? I tried letting go, but somehow I find myself still kicking."

Logan gave his head a shake and with a smile said, "Pathetic."

"More like fools," Carlos said with a laugh.

Logan thought about the last thing Kelly had said, and gave Carlos another quick nod.

"You're probably right," he agreed. "That's just how it goes."

**The End **


End file.
